For Granted
by RockyRoadSmith
Summary: When Holly falls ill, the rest of the rebels try their best to take care of her and to do her regular routines. The trouble is none of them can cook, clean, use the Magic Stone, or stop the fighting between each other like Holly can. Complete.
1. Chapter 1: The Predicament

My Monster Rancher fanfiction project called "Delusions of the Heart" now has reached 10 reviews, which is super amazing and I never thought it would ever get that many. Because of this, I wanted to say… THANK YOU GUYS! This is dedicated to my amazing reviewers archsage328, Mandy, ripitupgenki, Butterflygirl1234, and Dark Scimitar. Thanks again so much! This isn't much of a story, but I had this idea for a little while now so I hope you enjoy! The first chapter seems serious, but it will become a comedy in the next chapter.

This is set sometime between Grey Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 1. The Predicament**

"The Magic Stone is pointing straight ahead of us again."

"Are you serious, Holly? We've been marching around this bug infested forest for ages now!"

"Cut it out, Suezo. You're only making things worse."

"Shut up, Genki! I have the right to complain when I want to!"

The group of rebels consisting of a human boy, a human girl, a Suezo, a Mocchi, a Tiger, a Hare, and a Golem had been walking around the dense forest for several hours now without taking any breaks. They wanted to make it to the next town before night fall, but at the rate they were going that wasn't going to happen. Camping outside had become more and more dangerous ever since the defeat of Pixie, for the Baddies now had made them moving targets. Anyone who could bring the girl who wielded the Magic Stone back to Moo alive would be awarded handsomely, and anyone who could kill the rest of the rebels would become one of Moo's new generals.

"The sun… is setting. We should make… camp soon." Golem said with a frown as the other rebels adverted their attention to the setting sun. All hopes of making it to the next town had been shattered, and Genki gave out a huff of slight aggravation before putting on a grin.

"Ah, it's no big deal! We get to spend another night under the stars! I see no problem with that." The young boy said with a positive attitude that most of the other group members didn't share.

"Yeah, chi! Mocchi like seeing the stars, chi!" The young sweet cake-looking monster said with a giggle as he jumped onto Genki's back.

Holly smiled at Genki as he brightened the mood, but suddenly she felt her throat restrict. She quickly brought her arm up to her mouth before a strained cough was released from the girl. Several more coughs followed the first before Holly's lungs decided to give the poor girl a break and the coughing stopped. She looked a bit worn and weary, but the brunette didn't complain.

"Holly! Are you okay?" Suezo asked with concern as he hopped to his partner's side.

"Oh! I'm fine. It's probably just from the pollen." Holly waved it off as she gave the eyeball monster a comforting pat on the head before she began to unpack her sleeping gear.

It had been like this since the day before, but Holly didn't want to worry the rest of the group. She would wake up at night with sudden coughing fits that felt like they would never end, but as suddenly as they came they would disappear. Because she stayed up late from the coughing, Holly was running on nearly no sleep at all. It frustrated the girl greatly, but she would endure it if that meant getting to their next destination without running into any Baddies. If she were to tell the other rebels, they would surely stop their journey to wait until she was better, but this would also make them sitting ducks for Moo's men.

"If we get up early enough, we may make it to the next town by tomorrow night if we do what we did today and take no breaks." Tiger said with a stern look as he watched Genki and Mocchi play happily as if there was no danger in the world.

"True, but we also need rest. We haven't had a break all day so our bodies are worn out. We need time to sleep as much as we need tonight and have a break or two tomorrow." Hare countered with a nod as he circled the wolf-like monster with his arms crossed.

"If we go by your plan, though, we won't get to the next town for about two days!" Tiger snarled. "In case you've forgotten, we're in the middle of a forest which is probably crawling with Baddies. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"You make valid points, Tiger, but let's not forget about the rest of the team. If we were to run into Baddies and we went by your plan, we'd be way too tired to fight! It's true that the forest is dangerous, but keeping well rested is the key to winning battles. You can't be selfish about this!"

"What? Selfish? You're the most selfish monster I've ever met! You'd sell us to Moo if he gave you a few gold coins!"

"I would not! I'm not the one who almost got Holly killed because you were so selfish that you were going to walk off on us and because of that, Holly got shot by that Black Worm! That was your fault!"

"You take that back!"

"Make me!"

"Please, that's enough!"

Holly stepped in between the feuding monsters and placed a hand on each one of their shoulders. Her eyes met with both of the rebels, before both of them slowly backed away from one another. Holly was the peacemaker of the group and everyone seemed to listen to her when she asked for a fight to end. She tended to break up more fights then a bartender.

After several minutes of preparation, Holly began to cook one of her wondrous stews. Their luck had been in their favor when Tiger sniffed out a small creek that had been several yards away from the camp site. The aroma of the broth filled the air as the hungry rebels swarmed around Holly like mice waiting for crumbs. The minute the girl announced the stew was done, that rest of the group lunged at the soup like savages as they began to fight and curse. Holly watched the scene as sweat drops formed on the back of her head. They may have beaten three of the four Big Bad Four members, but they had a long way to go on their teamwork.

After dinner (in which Hare had managed to save Holly a bowl of stew and Holly had graciously taken it even though she wasn't sure how sanitary it was at that point), Holly took all seven of the soup dishes and the rest of the cooking gear before she headed down to the creek. She scrubbed the dished in circular motions before rinsing each individual bowl. It had been this routine ever since she started her journey to find the Phoenix. She would cook, clean, and guide the group everyday without hesitation.

Holly made her way back to camp, where the rest of the rebels were already sleeping, before she put the dishes away and slid into her own sleeping bag. Her head was pounding and her entire body felt like she was in an ice box. The brunette gave a small cough and a shiver before falling into a restless slumber.

* * *

The sun beams peaking through some of the gaps in the trees shone brightly onto Genki's body as he slowly opened his eyes and let out a yawn. Now fully energized from a full night of rest, the young boy jumped to his feet and put on a huge grin. It was a beautiful morning and there weren't any signs of the Baddies, which was cause for inner celebration. Before Genki could wake up the others, his attention went toward the fire pit they had made the night before. Every morning, Holly was the first person awake. By the time Genki would wake up, Holly would already have breakfast almost finished cooking. This morning was different, however, because Holly wasn't there sitting next to a steady fire with breakfast being made. The young boy looked around with a confused look before his eyes fell on the girl he was looking for. Holly was still in her sleeping bag, but what made it more unusual was the fact she was shivering when it was rather warm out.

"Um, Holly?" Genki whispered as he knelt down next to the brunette and shook her body gently. The girl moaned slightly before she let out a ragged cough. Another strained cough followed the first before Holly shivered violently and turned away from Genki, her hand trembling as she pulled her sleeping bag up to her neck before she lay still. Startled by what had just occurred, Genki scrambled to the sleeping form of Hare before he shook the rabbit monster awake.

"…wha? What's goin' on?" Hare slurred tiredly as his eyes adjusted to the light of the morning. His eyes met with those of Genki's before a frown formed on his face. "What was that for, Genki? Some of us actually like to sleep in a little!"

"Hare! Something's wrong with Holly! I think she's sick!" Genki exclaimed with concern as he pointed to the young girl who was currently sleeping.

Hare looked at the concerned Genki before letting out a defeated sigh. He was tired from the long journey yesterday, but he also wanted to see what Genki was talking about. The rabbit monster stood up before stretching his legs and headed over to Holly's side. Hare looked down at Holly before putting his hand on her forehead with care, so not to wake up the girl and have an awkward situation occur. His eyes widened as he turned to face an extremely worried Genki, who was now leaning over his shoulder.

"Her temperature is really high. It feels like she has a fever. Her skin is also paler." Hare said with concern as he brought his head down to the girl's chest to listen to her breathing. Genki looked at Hare with a look that screamed 'you're-being-a-pervert', but Hare quickly brought his head away from the girl and faced Genki again.

"Her breathing sounds a little labored and ragged. I think she has fluid in her lungs."

"…huh?"

Hare sighed and shook his head before turning back to the young boy. "I mean you're right and that she's sick. Simple enough for you?"

"Uh, yeah. So what do we do?"

"I'm no doctor, but the best thing to do is to let her rest and to make sure she takes in a lot of fluids. There's not much more we can do." Hare said sadly with a frown as he brushed away a few stray strands of hair from Holly's pale face.

After several minutes, the other rebels began to slowly wake up. Tiger immediately noticed the strange behavior of his comrades as he made his way over to Genki's side. His eyes shone with slight confusion as he noticed both Genki and Hare staring down at Holly with looks of intensity.

"…what are you two _doing_?" The wolf-like monster asked with a tone of suspicion.

"It's not what it looks like, I swear." Hare stated with sweat marks on the back of his head as he took a step back from the sleeping girl before turning to face Tiger. "Holly's sick, Tiger. She's feverish and she isn't breathing normally."

The moment Tiger heard the words 'Holly' and 'sick' in the same sentence, his entire body tensed up. Images from when Holly was poisoned from the Black Worm because of his poor decision filled the wolf monster's mind as he made his way over to Holly's side. What Hare said was true, and Tiger could sense Holly's discomfort just by looking at her.

"Hey guys! Where's the grub? Did you eat without me?" The shout from Suezo broke through the silence that hung over the group as he made his way over to the other rebels. At the mere sight of the group hovering over the sleeping form of Holly, a vein appeared on the back of the monster's head as he singled out Genki and smacked the boy over the head with his tongue.

"ALL OF YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"Stop, Suezo! It's not like that at all!" Hare exclaimed as he helped a rather dazed Genki back to his feet.

"What is… going on?" Golem asked as he made his way over to the ruckus that had ensued in the camp site. Everyday, something interesting seemed to happen with this group.

"Stop yelling, Suezo! Holly's sick and she needs rest!" Hare exclaimed with a pleading look as he watched Holly stir slightly from all the noise, but she merely turned over before lying still once again.

"WHAT? HOLLY'S SICK?" Suezo screamed in shock as Hare grabbed the monster by his lips and shut them together quickly as a vein formed on his head.

"Do you want to wake up the whole forest? Yes, she's sick! Now calm down and let her rest!" Tiger snapped as he paced back and forth trying to think of a way to make the situation better.

"Holly's sick, chi?" Mocchi whispered with a tearful look as he crawled up next to the ill brunette before taking her hand in his tiny one. "Will she be okay, chi?"

"Of course. It's probably just a passing cold or something. She'll be fine." Hare said with a sad smile as he watched the young monster perk up a little from the encouragement.

"Why don't we just carry her to the next town? I'm sure there's a doctor there." Tiger said with a nod, but Hare quickly replied.

"If we knew where we were, that would be the best idea, but we don't know exactly where the next town is. If we were to leave this spot and try to make it to the next town, we'd risk not only getting lost, but also we're not sure of we'd have a water source. Holly needs to take in as much water as she can while she's sick and if we end up in a part of the forest without the creek, Holly could dehydrate." Hare said solemnly as he looked down at the ground.

Genki suddenly turned to the group with a look of determination as he pumped his fist up into the air and brought it down into a peace sign. The rest of the group didn't know what he was up to, so they just watched him with confusion and slight entertainment.

"You guys know what we have to do, right?" The orange cap-wearing boy said with a smile.

"Uh, not really." Tiger replied gruffly.

"We need to take care of Holly like her personal doctors!" Genki announces as the other rebel's faces (except Tiger) lit up at the suggestion.

"Great idea! With the six of us taking care of her, Holly will be better in no time!" Hare exclaimed with a laugh and a wink.

"Yeah! We'll cook and clean and other stuff like that! It'll be fun, guys!" Genki said with a grin as he looked over at Holly. "Don't worry, Holly, you'll be safe in our hands!"

"This will be… interesting…" Tiger sweated as he watched Genki and Mocchi run around raving about being doctors like animals that just escaped the zoo.

* * *

Okay! This is a mini story, so it will be probably about 3-6 chapters, depending on if I have the time or patients (I have final exams next week, so I need to study!). Thanks for reading guys! This chapter seemed rather serious, but the next ones will be more humorous. Also, the reference of Holly getting poisoned by a Black Worm is from the episode "Run, Tiger, Run!". It's really intense, but the American version blocked off the part where Holly actually gets hit by the poison dart because she bleeds a little. Lame. Anyways, I think that's about it.

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	2. Chapter 2: Keep Her Warm!

The next chapter of this mini story. I hope to get this story done within a week or two so I can get back to updating DotH. Don't mind my perverted humor in this chapter. I can't help it. ^_^; Enjoy!

This is set sometime between Gray Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 2. Keep Her Warm!**

The male rebels sat around in a circle as they discussed what exactly they had to do. None of them ever dealt with taking care of a sick person before, so none of them knew what exactly to do. It was true that Holly had been sick one time by the Black Worm poison, but right away Hare had known the cure for that. This situation was a little different, but the group still turned to Hare to direct them.

"Hmm… first off, we need to make her as comfortable as possible." Hare said with a nod as the other's looked at him with blank stares.

"Uh… how do you suppose we do that?" Suezo asked with a frown as the other rebels agreed with the eyeball monster.

"Well, we're pretty limited on what we can do since we're in the middle of a forest, so we need to think about this carefully." The rabbit monster replied as he walked over to the creek and took a long sip of water from it. Ever since the group had found out Holly was ill, they had been hounding Hare for answers. The rabbit monster was already stressed, but he was doing his best to keep his cool.

Hare returned back to the rest of the rebels, who were still discussing what plan of action they should take. Suddenly, a cough broke through the group as they turned to see Holly weakly sit up from her slumber and look feverishly at them. Suezo was the first one to leap to her side as her arms gave out and Suezo quickly caught the girl with his tongue before lying her down gently.

"Holly…?" Suezo whispered gently as he watched Holly shift under her blankets before turning over weakly.

"…Suezo…?" Holly said the eyeball monster's name hoarsely as she let out a series of coughs before shivering and closing her eyes. When Suezo called her name again, the girl was already out cold. Her body continued to shiver violently as he could hear her labored breathing, causing Suezo to frown even more.

"Hm… it's a good sign that she was awake for moment, but we need to do something fast to help her recover." Hare said with a nod as the rest of the group looked at each other. Suddenly, Hare had a devious idea.

"Hey, Tiger! I have a plan! Why don't you go over and snuggle up next to Holly?"

"What?"

The entire group stared at Hare with looks of shock as Tiger's entire face flushed red. The wolf-like monster shifted uncomfortably as the rest of the group turned their gazes to him.

"Think about it, Tiger. Holly's shivering really badly and _you_ have a ton of fur! Surely you want to make her more comfortable and keep her warm. Or maybe you'd just want to cuddle with her for the fun of it." Hare said with a wink as Tiger's face grew even redder as he bared his fangs at the rabbit monster. Embarrassing Tiger always led to some kind of fight.

"No way! I won't do it! Why don't _you_ do it, Hare? You have fur, too!" Tiger countered as he growled slightly under his breath, though the blush on his face was still present.

"Don't mind if I do!" Hare grinned as he hopped over to the sleeping bag Holly was currently occupying while Tiger face faulted. The rest of the rebels sweated as the rabbit monster unzipped the sleeping bag before slipping in himself and re-zipping the bag back up.

"You get out of there now!" Suezo growled as low as he could so he wouldn't wake Holly up as a vein popped out of his head.

"I'm only doing what Tiger suggested I do." Hare replied with a playful smile as Tiger snarled at the rabbit monster.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Well, who else would keep Holly warm then?" Hare said with a grin as he watched the rest of the rebels shift uncomfortably among each other. "How about you, Genki?"

"HUH?"

"I'm sure you'd love to know what it feels like to sleep so close to a pretty girl." Hare cooed with a wink as Genki's face flushed about ten shades of red. The boy brought his baseball cap over his face as he tried to hide his blush while Mocchi looked at him confusingly.

"I'll do it, Hare! Now move it!" Suezo demanded with a look that could kill.

"You? Besides Golem, you're the worse choice to keep someone warm. What would you do? Hold her close with your wet, sticky tongue?" Hare mocked as Suezo held back several choice words he wanted to shout out.

"It just so happens that my tongue _isn't_ sticky, you moron! So get away from her, you pervert!"

Hare's grin widened at Suezo's misfortune and he resisted the urge to give him a rude gesture just to annoy him. Everyone knew how protective Suezo was of Holly, so having Hare so close to her was pushing the eyeball monster to his limits.

"Oh! Holly's still shivering! How about I do this…" Hare said with a sly grin as he put his arms around the girl's waist and pulled her closer. Suezo's eye almost bulged out of his head as he felt his protective instinct going crazy.

"Hare, this is getting out of hand." Genki mumbled, his face still red from Hare's previous comments.

Before Hare could reply, Holly turned over to face the rabbit monster in her sleep. The girl snuggled into Hare's chest as the heat from his fur warmed her greatly and the rest of the rebels watched in shock (and some in horror). Hare blushed furiously as Holly murmured something incoherent as she subconsciously wrapped her arms around the rabbit monster's neck as she brought herself closer to him.

"…I'm going to kill you, Hare." Suezo growled as he watched Hare give him a thumbs up and a wink. "I'm _really_ going to kill you."

"See? The ladies love me!" The rabbit monster said with a grin as Tiger let out an aggravated sigh. "Hey, at least now she's stopped shivering. My fur idea worked."

"Golem thinks… this is a bad… idea." Golem said with a frown as he watched the rebels argue about the situation.

"I think Holly finds me very comfortable… and attractive…" Hare said with a nod to himself as Golem sweated slightly from his answer.

"Cut it out, Hare!" Genki said as he clenched his fists together with aggravation.

"Oh! So you want to cuddle up next to her now?"

"I never said that, Hare!" Genki exclaimed as his face grew beet red again.

Suddenly, Hare stopped talking when his attention was turned toward Holly. She had shifted in her sleep, but what made it strange was now she had a small smile on her face. The brunette gave out a quiet, yet joyful sounding giggle as she buried her face into the curve of Hare's neck, causing Hare to blush. The other's watched as sweat marks formed on their heads, unsure of what was going on.

"…Hare… what are you doing to her under those blankets…?" Suezo held back as much anger as he could as he strenuously asked the question.

"Nothing! I swear!"

"You're lying!"

"No! Honest!"

"She must be dreaming about something." Genki said with curiosity.

Their attention went back to Holly, who was now currently mumbling more sentences that no one could understand. Her face flushed red for a moment before she leaned her head forward… and kissed Hare on the lips. Hare's eyes were as huge as saucers and his face red as an apple as Holly remained there in the kiss before she slumped back down and cuddled up next to the rabbit monster's side, her arms still wrapped around him. The rest of the rebels stood there in shock as they watched Hare still looking down at Holly with a look of confusion and embarrassment.

"…Genki…" Holly whispered in her sleep as she snuggled into Hare's chest before falling silent once again.

"…holy crap…" Hare mumbled as he looked over to the other rebels who looked like they were ready to kill him.

"Hare, how would you like to die? I was thinking a nice hot oil bath." Suezo shook with anger when he spoke as Hare sweated.

"Come on, guys! I didn't mean for that to happen!" Hare defended as he gave out a nervous laugh as the rebels began to circle around him and the sleeping Holly.

"Wait. Did she say… Genki?" Tiger suddenly picked up on it as the entire group turned to face the confused boy.

"What are you talking about?"

"Holly thought she …. was kissing you… Genki." Golem said with slight amusement as Suezo's worst fears began to unravel in front of him. Genki's face was redder then ever before, but Suezo decided to end this here and now before Genki would pick up on the true meaning of it all.

"Okay! Okay! Hare, you stay here and keep Holly warm. When I mean no funny business, I mean it." Suezo said with a huff of defeat.

"I swear I won't do anything… "wrong"… Suezo. What kind of monster do you take me for?"

"A perverted one." Suezo mumbled as he sat down up against one of the many nearby trees with aggravation.

"What you guys need to do now is to cook us up a meal." Hare said to Mocchi since he and Golem were the only two not feeling completely uncomfortable about what had just happened. "Holly's cooking supplies were left in her bag and the dishes, spoons, and pots were left on the towel near the fire pit to dry. Holly needs to eat something light, so try not to make the meal too elaborate. I would help, but I'm kind of busy with keeping Holly warm."

Mocchi nodded as he ran up to Genki's side and started to pull on his shorts. Genki looked down at the sweet cake-looking monster with a smile on his face as he gave the younger monster a pat on the head.

"What's going on, Mocchi?"

"Hare says we have to make food, chi!"

"Alright, let's do it!" Genki announced epically as him and Mocchi posed to themselves like they always did, which caused Suezo to sweat just looking at them.

Tiger sat alone as Golem came up next to the wolf-like monster with a look of concern on his face. Tiger had been pretty quiet for the past few minutes, which was very unlike him after having a fight with Hare.

"Are you… okay, Tiger?" Golem asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Tiger replied as Golem nodded and headed back to the rest of the rebels to help with the cooking. When Golem was out of sight, Tiger hung his head before looking back up at the sky with an uncharacteristic stream of tears coming down his face as he thought bitterly:

'_I gave up the chance to sleep with Holly! Curse you, Hare!'_

* * *

Hahaha, my friend from school is a Hare/Holly shipper, so I guess this was a little bit of a tease for her. Also, I couldn't help but add a Genki/Holly hint since I'm an obsessed shipper. This is just for fun, so there will be times where the characters are OOC. For people who don't get this, all the monsters show signs of having crushes on Holly, especially in the episode "Holly's Happy Birthday". At one point, Mocchi puts some flowers in Holly's hair and when he's done, he gives Holly a kiss on the cheek. It cuts to Tiger, Golem, and either Hare or Suezo (I forgot which) looking shocked and they're blushing. Then, Suezo lunges at Holly to give her a kiss and so does Hare, but they miss and end up kissing each other. They reel back in disgust and start to spit and make gagging noises. XD

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	3. Chapter 3: A Pinch of Salt

I want to thank Dark Fox Tailz, ripitupgenki, and Butterflygirl1234 for all of your feedback! I wasn't sure how this story would take off, but I'm really relieved you guys like it so far. I love humorous stories, but I've never written one so I wasn't sure if it would be comical enough (I'm not good at writing comedies). I hope to do more comical stories in the future since writing more serious stories like Delusions of the Heart can get kind of depressing. XD I'm done my rant now. Thanks again and enjoy!

This is set sometime between Gray Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 3. A Pinch of Salt**

Several pairs of eyes stared at one another as silence fell upon the forest. Not a chirp of a bird or a snap of a twig was heard as the staring continued. This awkward, nervous, and downright annoying silence had been hanging above the still campsite for over an hour now. The silence was suddenly broken by a loud cough admitted by the ill brunette girl who slept restlessly in the middle of the camp site with a large rabbit monster lying next to her.

"Alright, we need to think of something fast."

"You go ahead and do it."

"Me? No way! Do you want me touching your food with my tongue?"

"Alright then. How about you?"

"Me? Mocchi just a baby, chi. Don't know how, chi."

"Ug, what about you? Can you do it?"

"What part of I only have paws do you not understand? You do it!"

"Me? No way! I can't!"

"I thought you could do anything, Mr. Energy."

"Shuddup!"

The group sighed in frustration as they looked down at the ground. For over an hour the group had been arguing about who would do the cooking. It had sounded like a fun and exciting thing at first, but as soon as the rebels looked at all of Holly's spices, herbs, different sized pots, and several different kinds of silverware, the rebels were lost. None of them had any cooking experience at all and they didn't even know to make a basic stew. In other words; they were pretty pathetic.

"Come on, guys! Make up your minds and cook something! Holly's getting really restless." Hare called out to the rest of the group as they turned their attention to the rabbit monster.

"We know already!"

"Yeah! Shut up, Hare! You got the easy job!"

"Oooh! Tee hee! You're right; I _do_ have the easy job! I get to lie close to a cute young lady while you guys do her usual choirs. That's what happens when you're a nice monster like me and volunteer." Hare smiled and nodded as the rest of the group sweated slightly. The group was still worked up over this unusual arrangement.

"Anyways," Genki said, trying his best to advert the group's attention away from the sly rabbit monster. "We need to cook up something fast. We've watched Holly cook like a billion times. It looks easy enough. It's just cutting up food and throwing it in water and waiting for it to cook."

"What should we… put in the stew?" Golem asked as the young boy pondered this.

"Um, let's use whatever we can find in the woods! Let's head out, guys, and get some grub!" Genki announced as the rest of the monsters agreed with him. "Golem, you stay here and make sure no Baddies come into the camp."

"I will… make sure Holly… is safe." Golem complied as he sat down near the edge of the camp to keep watch.

With that taken care of, it was time to find something to cook. Genki took off on his rollerblades with Tiger, Suezo, and Mocchi hot on his heels. After only several minutes, the group spotted some colorful fruits and berries.

"Alright! Let's take them all!" Suezo said with a grin as he began to fill up his handkerchief full of the new found food.

"Man, that was really easy! I wonder what takes Holly so long when she's out finding food. Maybe we should do this for now on!" Genki grinned victoriously as the group headed back toward the camp. Suddenly, another plant caught Genki's eye.

"Hey, are those potatoes?" The boy asked with a curious look as the other monster joined in.

"Yeah, they look like it. I'll dig them out, so stand back." Tiger said as he began to dig around the embedded plant. With strength like no other the wolf monster torn through the roots of the plant and ripped the potatoes out of the ground. He felt himself smile smugly at his victory as the other rebels watched in amazement at his speed.

"Great job, chi!" Mocchi praised as he poked one of the roots with the tip of his hand.

"Holly has some other vegetables back at camp that we can mix these with." Suezo said with a nod as he began to haul the fruit back to the camp with the other rebels in tow.

* * *

The rebels stared down hungrily at the berries they had picked, but they wanted to save them for their sick friend. When they returned to the camp, Golem was still in the same spot they had left him in.

"You found food… so quickly?" The stone monster questioned as he looked down at the arrangement of fruits.

"Yeah, it was really easy. You should try these red berries here. They're really sweet and refreshing." Genki smiled with a grin as the rest of the group also snuck several berries for themselves. They hadn't eaten all day, so their hunger was starting to get to them.

"No… thank you. I am good… right now." Golem refused politely. Genki shrugged before eating a few more berries as Suezo sorted through their findings.

"What kind should we give to Holly? We don't want her to choke." Suezo frowned as he looked down at all the different colored berries with slight confusion.

"These ones look pretty good, chi." Mocchi smiled as he pointed to a few light blue colored berries.

"Yeah, they _do_ look good." Genki replied hungrily as he resisted the urge to eat the berries right there and then. Mocchi smiled and gave the blue berries to Genki to give to Holly. The group was pretty sure Holly wouldn't want to eat anything that came from Suezo tongue, no matter how close of friends they were.

With consideration not to be rough, Genki slowly knelt down to Holly's side as Hare was now asleep. He gently shook her arm as the girl flinched before her eyes slowly opened to meet his gaze. Her eyes were feverish and lacked the normal shine they always had to them, which Genki couldn't help but be worried about.

"…G…Genki…?" Holly weakly asked as Genki smiled sadly at her and nodded. In response, Holly returned his smile with a weak one before letting out a few coughs.

"Holly, you have to eat, okay? Then you can go back to sleep." Genki said softly as Holly nodded her head like a lost child. Seeing her like this was truly awful. The young boy pulled out the handkerchief that contained the berries as he slowly hand fed the ill girl, who was blushing the entire time. When she was finished, Holly gave him a weak and tired 'thank you' before her eyes closed and she was fast asleep.

With a yawn, Hare slowly woke up from his nap (he was quite tired after Genki's rude awakening that morning) to see the young boy kneeling next to Holly. A sly grin formed on his face as he let out a chuckle.

"So, Genki, you wanna trade spots with me?" He said with a wink as Genki flushed and turned his head.

"No! I was just giving her something to eat!" The young boy scowled in defense as he glared at the rabbit monster.

"Really? You guys _actually _cooked something? I'm impressed! Can I have some?"

"Eh, we didn't cook anything. We found some berries and what we think are potatoes."

"Berries? Are you sure they're safe?"

"Uhh…."

"Well, what color were they?" Hare asked the young boy with a hint of concern on his voice.

"The ones we ate were red." Genki replied nervously.

"Well, you're lucky that the red colored berries that grow in this region aren't harmful." Hare said with a nod. "So Holly had that kind, too? You know berries won't hold us over for long…"

"Holly had these light blue colored berries."

"Light blue? Are you serious?"

Genki suddenly felt the color drain from his face as he looked at the rabbit monster with fear. "What's that mean? Is Holly okay?"

As is responding to Genki, Holly let out a painful moan as she clutched her stomach. The ill girl let out a small whimper before turning over to Hare… and vomiting in the rabbit monster's lap.

"…Nevermind."

* * *

After the berry incident, the rebels agreed to throw out the fruit they had collected. It was better to be safe than sorry. Genki couldn't get over the feeling of guilt since he was the one who fed Holly the berries, while Mocchi felt guilty because he was the one who picked out those particular berries to feed the girl. Suezo felt guilty since he was the one who had picked the berries in the first place, and Tiger felt guilty because he hadn't been able to sense that the berries were harmful. Golem felt guilty because he hadn't been there to warn the group of the berries since he was quite good at recognizing different plants because of his time in solitude, and Hare just felt like crap because he had just been puked on. The group's mood was pretty down, and they were still hungry.

"Okay, we need to cook up something." Suezo said with a determined look.

"Yeah, but what, chi? None of us know how to cook, chi."

"We'll learn! Like I said earlier, if Holly can do it alone, then we'll have no problem with six of us." Genki smiled and gave the young monster a thumbs up.

Hare trudged off in a sour mood to go clean himself off while Suezo looked through the various cooking supplies Holly owned. How she managed to remember what spices were which and what utensil to use was beyond the eyeball monster's thoughts. In Holly's supplies bag was an assortment of different vegetables she had picked up before they headed through the forest including celery, broccoli, carrots (to Genki's horror), and peppers. It was enough produce to make a decent stew.

Suezo headed down to the creek to obtain some water for boiling while the other rebels began to prepare the vegetables for cooking. Although it was awkward and rather embarrassing, the rebels cleaned and cut all of the food as they felt fit. Golem finished cutting up the carrots as Genki built a roaring fire to cook over. Things were looking up for the group.

The water bubbles and hissed as it began to heat up over the burning fire, and all at once the rebels dropped what they had been preparing into the boiling water. Genki grinned as he watched the food simmer and the steam rise from the pot.

"That wasn't hard at all." The energetic boy said with a laugh as he took a seat next to Mocchi, who in turn jumped on the boy's lap and curled into a ball. Within moments the sweet cake looking monster was fast asleep.

"Yeah. That wasn't difficult at all." Tiger huffed as he let out a yawn before turning away from the group to catch up on his sleep.

"This whole time I thought there was a knack to this." Suezo said with a smug smile as he brought over Holly's bag of spices. "What should we put in the stew?"

Genki and Golem sweated with Suezo as they looked at the complicated and strange names of the herbs and spices Holly had obtained. Most of the spices none of them had ever heard of before.

"Uh, paprika?"

"Nutmeg?"

"Thyme?"

"Hey! Here's some salt. At least I know what that is. Oh! And this one says 'pepper' on it! I think we'll be set with these." Genki smiled as he took the two pouches and brought them over to the stew while still cradling Mocchi in his arms.

"How much… do we put in?" Golem asked quietly as the other two rebels looked at each other and shrugged.

"I bet one little bag of this is equal to one serving, so I guess we put the whole pouch in." Genki formulated as he untied both bags and poured them into the stew.

"Now that that's taken care of, I say we take a break." Suezo said with a nod as he hopped under the closest tree before leaning against the tree with relaxation.

"Yeah, all we can do is wait for the stew to finish." Genki said as he sat back down near Golem with Mocchi in his arms. His eyes felt heavy as he let out a yawn, and before he knew it, the young boy was asleep.

* * *

"GENKI! GET UP! GET UP!"

Genki sprung awake from the rude awakening by Suezo's ear shattering voice and in the process, dropped Mocchi onto the ground with a thud. Mocchi grumbled, but the penguin-like monster stayed asleep.

"Huh? What's going on?" Genki questioned as he instinctively put his roller blades on in case they were in for a battle with some Baddies.

"LOOK FOR YOURSELF!"

Genki turned in time to see the soup bubbling over and black steam beginning to rise from the meal. The young boy felt sweat form on his head as the soup released a huge gurgling noise.

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

"MY FAULT? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THIS STARTED?"

"I..uh… I WAS BUSY! YOU FELL ASLEEP!"

"Suezo, we can still save the soup! Come on!" Genki yelled behind him as he ran toward his backpack. The energetic boy took out his towel and skated toward the soup before grabbing the handles of the pot with the towel and carefully taking it off of the fire. The fire began to blaze more and the fire quickly began to spread, however, and Genki could hear Suezo shouting to him before taking off.

Before the fire could move throughout the campsite, Tiger rushed in front of Genki and released a Blizzard attack. The fire slowly began to die down before it diminished completely.

"What happened?" Tiger demanded as he looked at Genki. Before Genki could reply, Suezo hopped back to the campsite with a pail of water. Seeing his efforts were for nothing, Suezo mentally sulked as he put the pail down.

"Before we say anything, just remember you were sleeping, too." Suezo said with a nod as Tiger sweated slightly.

"I… I was not!" Tiger growled as he sat down angrily.

"We saved the soup, so let's just relax." Genki reasoned as fanned the soup off a little with the lid of the pot.

"The soup… looks good." Golem said with a smile.

"Wanna try it first?" Genki offered as Golem nodded. Genki dished the soup into a small bowl for the rock monster to try, and Golem took it with a thanks. He slowly took a long sip of the soup before turning back to the other rebels.

"It is… wonderful." Golem praised with an upright smile.

"Alright! Let's give some to Holly then to help her with her stomach." Genki said with a sweat as he thought back to the berries. Holly had been getting sick every hour or so ever since she had eaten the berries.

Genki dished some of the soup into a bowl before bringing it over to the ill girl. The other rebels (except Hare, who was still cleaning up) circled around the girl in excitement (Tiger kept his usual cool look) to see how she would like the soup. Once again, Genki nudged Holly gently until the girl woke up. When Holly woke up, her eyes widened slightly and a nauseous feeling came over her just seeing Genki with another food product.

"Holly?"

"Ug… Genki…?"

"I'm glad you're awake! I'm sorry about before, but this will make up for it! We made you some soup! All of us, except Hare, helped make this for you." Genki stated proudly as Holly cringed slightly.

"Thank you, everyone, but… I'm not very hungry… right now…" Holly trailed off, trying her best to be polite and not to vomit again. The smell of the soup was absolute torture.

"You have to eat something, Holly! This'll give you strength!" Genki exclaimed, his voice having a pleading sound to it.

Holly stared up at Genki, and she gave out a defeated sigh. She couldn't say no to Genki's pleading look and she knew it would be the death of her someday. Her body was screaming for sleep and her eyes began to get heavier as she looked up at her friends.

"I'll… have a little…" Holly said with a shaky voice. She could see Genki's eyes light up with happiness as she took the spoon containing a single teaspoon of the stew as she brought it up to her lips. With one last glance at Genki, Holly swallowed the stew with one motion.

"Do ya like it?" Genki asked in excitement. His question was answered when Holly began to wheeze and gag involuntarily. The group looked at each other in confusion and panic as they began to run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Tiger was the fastest to react as he grabbed the pail of water Suezo had gotten earlier to put out the fire and ran to Holly's side. The wolf-like monster placed the pail into Holly's hands, and the girl instinctively brought the container up to her mouth and drank the relieving liquid. Water had never tasted so good to the girl. Exhaustion filled the brunette as she tiredly slumped back down into her sleeping bag, where awful food wasn't going to haunt her.

"…What happened?" Genki asked in confusion as he looked down miserable and guilty down at the food. "Golem said it was good!"

The rebels nodded to each other as they each took a spoonful of the stew and swallowed it. All at once, they all began to gag and spit it out as the scrambled to get to the creek for some water.

"AHHH! THE SALT! MY TONGUE IS GOING NUMB!"

"THE PEPPER! IT BURNS!"

Golem watched the rebels disappear from sight as he shrugged and took another sip of the stew. "Golem likes stew… and now likes cooking. Maybe I'll… open a restaurant… someday."

Somewhere in the distance, the sounds of gurgling and gagging could be heard throughout the forest for several hours.

* * *

This chapter wasn't all that funny, sorry! I was having trouble writing this since my brain is fried from studying for finals. XD Time for the Monster Rancher references! In the third season, you find out that while the group was separated that Suezo and Golem stayed together. During their travels, apparently Golem was their cook and he was awful. He loves cooking though, and in the episode after Golem, Suezo, Holly, Genki, and Mocchi reunite and Suezo tells them their tale about what they've been up to for the past year, Holly and Golem talk about cooking together. Far later in the series when Most lends the rebels his Iron Bird, while heading to the shrine to unlock Holly's father, Golem talks about wanting to open his own restaurant in Holly's hometown. Holly likes the idea, but Suezo is rather disturbed. XD The other reference is Genki's hate for carrots. I forgot what episode it is in the third season, but Holly cooks a stew with carrots in it. Genki reels back with disgust because he hates carrots, and Holly looks pretty hurt. Immediately Genki starts to stuff his face with the stew and say how much he loves carrots just to make Holly happy (thought there are waterfalls of tears falling down his face. XD). At the end of the episode, they go to a restaurant and Holly orders him this huge carrot dinner because she thinks he loves it, and he laughs at the irony of it. So cute! ^_^

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	4. Chapter 4: Cleaning Frenzy

I'm writing this at work, so it's a tad rushed. XD Thanks again everyone for all of your feedback and reviews! They make my day! I want to get this story done soon, so let's hope I can write kind of fast. I'm not sure how many more chapters there will be, but not counting this one, there should be about 4 or so left. This wasn't supposed to be a long story at all. In fact, it was suppose to be a one-shot, but then I went overboard. Enjoy!

This is set sometime between Gray Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 4. Cleaning Frenzy**

"Ug, my stomach…"

"Mocchi's belly hurt, chi…"

"That was the worst thing I've ever eaten."

"Golem thought… the food was good…"

"Shuddup!"

The failed meal the rebels had cooked up earlier was still lingering in the campsite as each of the rebels held their stomachs in discomfort. It had been over an hour since the stew had been served, but it was still having its side effects.

"Maybe Hare should cook for us instead." Genki said with a frown as he turned his attention to the other rebels.

"Feh. He'd probably poison anything he cooks." Tiger growled as he turned over away from the group.

"Besides… Hare has not come… back yet… from cleaning… himself up…" Golem stated as he thought back to Holly vomiting in his lap.

"Hare had that coming." Tiger mumbled gruffly.

"Speaking of cleaning, we have to clean up everything from when we cooked." Genki said with a sigh as he slowly stood up, his stomach still aching.

"Clean? Are you serious?" Suezo said skeptically with a frown.

"This is the easy part of cooking. All we have to do is rinse pans and spoons. There's nothing to it." The young boy smiled as he went over to the middle of the campsite. His attention fell onto Holly, who was still subconsciously holding her stomach from the earlier meal and from the berries. She looked like she was going to be sick again at any moment, so Genki quickly tip toed away and made his way over to the dishes. If he saw Holly vomit, because of the food, he knew he would surely get sick as well.

"Got 'em!" Genki whispered as he carried all the dishes over to the rest of the rebels. Each of them looked down into the pot that once contained the stew before cringing and feeling nauseous. Not only was the smell horrific, but the stew had burnt onto the side of the pot, giving it a disgusting look.

"Oh, boy..."

* * *

Genki, Tiger, Mocchi, Suezo, and Golem made their way down to the creek to clean what they needed to as fast as possible. Being careful not to break any of the dishes, the rebels gently placed the dishes near the bank of the creek.

The group sweated as they noticed a wet Hare with a towel wrapped around his waist, who was now staring at them with wide eyes.

"You perverts!"

"We didn't come down here to see _you_, Hare."

"Sure…"

With that said, Hare quickly walked off toward the campsite while the other rebels pretended that moment never happened.

"Okay, so who's going to clean what?" Genki asked as the monsters looked at each other before shrugging.

"Golem doesn't… like water…" Golem said in a low tone as Genki nodded in understanding.

"Okay then. You'll be the one to dry the dishes so you don't have to get close to the creek."

"Thank you…"

The other rebels looked at each other before Mocchi ran over and grabbed the spoons they had used to eat the stew.

"Mocchi clean these, chi!"

"Okay, Mocchi! Now there's just the bowls and the cooking pot. I get dibs on the bowls!" Genki announced as Suezo and Tiger glared at each other.

"I can't clean! Do you know how weird that is to clean dishes with your tongue?"

"Well, I can't clean, either, because I only have paws."

Genki frowned as he looked at the two monsters before the realization hit him. With a smug look, the young boy laughed and picked up the bowls.

"You guys just don't want to clean that nasty pot!"

"Hell yeah! Did you look at that thing? I'm not sticking my tongue in that!" Suezo screeched as Genki sweated from his outburst. "It would be like licking a toilet!"

"And what about me? I can't clean with my paws! And I sure won't clean it with my tongue either." Tiger growled as he glared at Suezo.

"You'll do fine. Just work together!" Genki grinned before he headed to the edge of the creek. The young boy dug through his book bag before pulling out a bar of soap and applying it onto the surface of the first bowl. He scrubbed the soap around until suds formed on the surface before dunking the bowl into the running water. When he pulled it out, he smiled at his work before placing the bowl onto a towel.

Mocchi hummed to himself as he tried his best to scrub the dried on pepper off of the spoon, but to no avail. With a frustrated humph, the young monster took a rough feeling rock before scraping it onto the spoon. The pepper quickly disappeared from the surface of the silverware, and Mocchi grinned at his success.

Tiger and Suezo sweated slightly as they held the disgusting pot into the running water. The water splashed inside the pot, but it didn't seem to get rid of the burnt mess that was still inside. The horrid looking substance was caked onto the sides of the pot, and seemed to resist the water.

"Damn, now what?" Suezo muttered as he kept a tight grip on the handle of the pot with his powerful tongue. It was, however, quite uncomfortable.

"I'll try to scrape some of it out with my claws." Tiger said as he physically cringed at the thought. Closing his eyes, Tiger slowly reached his paws into the pot before he began to scrape and claw at the burnt substance. The wolf monster didn't want to open his eyes since he really didn't want to see what he was touching. When the wolf monster opened his eyes, his attempt hadn't even left a mark.

"What? How can this be?" Tiger snarled in anger as his temper began to flare. He wouldn't be defeated by a mere object used for cooking.

"Any other ideas?"

"Grr…! LIGHTNING ATTACK!"

"NO TIGER!"

Suezo's plea was unheard as a mass of electricity shot forth from Tiger's horns straight into the cooking pot. Suezo screamed as the entire area exploded into a bright light. The other rebels shielded their eyes as Genki stood in front of Mocchi protectively.

When the light and smoke cleared, all that could be seen was Suezo, who was now burnt and battered. His eye was swirling as he teetered forward before falling backwards, now unconscious. The rebels didn't look at him, though. Their attention was at the now fried and ruined cooking pot that was lying near the edge of the creek.

"…Tiger…?"

"That pot was ruined anyways." Tiger spat as he grumpily began to walk back to camp.

The group was silent as they watched Tiger leave, and they couldn't help but stare at the burnt pot. Sometimes the rebels forgot just how powerful the wolf monster really was. The cooking pot looked more pathetic then earlier, but at least it smelt better now.

"WHAT IS YOU GUY'S PROBLEM?" Suezo shouted as he leapt up from where he had fallen, his body still burnt. "I JUST GOT ELECTROCUTED AND YOU GUYS DIDN'T EVEN CHECK ON ME!"

"We knew you'd be okay since you seem to live through everything. We couldn't get rid of you if we tried." Genki muttered as a vein appeared on Suezo's head.

"WHAT? YOU GUYS SUCK!"

With that, Suezo hopped back to camp while still muttering swears and threats. The eyeball monster disappeared into the trees, before Genki couldn't hold it in any longer and began to laugh.

"Now I know why you always drop him, Golem! Making Suezo mad is pretty fun!" Genki laughed as Golem sweated as he finished drying the last bowl.

"Done, chi! Let's go back, chi!"

"See? That wasn't so hard at all!" Genki praised as they rushed back to the campsite, with Golem following up with the ruined pot in his hand.

When the rebels returned to the camp, they couldn't help but sweat as they watched Hare and Tiger arguing again. They looked at each other like two rabid dogs ready to fight for a steak.

"Hey! What's going on?" Genki called out as Hare turned his attention to the young boy for the moment.

"Tiger here is started trouble with me! I did nothing wrong!"

"You're lying, rabbit! You bumped into me on purpose!"

"I did no such thing!"

Before Tiger could retort, Hare turned his attention away from the wolf monster and on to the ruined cooking pot in Golem's hand.

"What did you guys do?" Hare exclaimed as Tiger sweated slightly. "You were suppose to clean the dishes, not melt them!"

"This is the only one that ended up like this! The rest came out fine!" Genki exclaimed as he held out the stack of bowls and spoons.

"…Are you serious?" Hare stated bluntly as he scoped out the dishes carefully. "I feel like I need to babysit you guys!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Just look at these!" Hare exclaimed as he held out the spoons. Mocchi and Genki sweated as they noticed the large scratch marks and the deep grooves now in the silverware.

"It looks like you cleaned these with a rock!" Hare said with a frown as Mocchi sweated even more. He decided it would be best to just keep his mouth shut for the moment.

"And these bowls! Do you guys know anything about cleaning dishes at all?" Hare sighed as he sat down under a nearby tree.

"Yeah! Why? What's wrong with the dishes?" Genki asked attentively.

"I can tell you used soap, that's for sure. There's a layer of dried soap on all of these bowls." The rabbit monster stated as Genki blushed with embarrassment.

"Plus, some of these have crack marks on them now!" Hare exclaimed as he huffed from aggravation. Genki slowly turned his head to Golem, who was now looking away with embarrassment. Having a large and powerful monster like Golem drying fragile objects wasn't the best idea.

"If I wasn't keeping Holly warm, I'd show you guys a thing or two about cleaning dishes." Hare stated smugly as he crawled back into Holly's sleeping bag. The rebels sweated as they watched Hare get comfortable, and maybe even a little _too_ comfortable.

"I don't know how much more of this I can stand." Suezo growled as he stared at Hare as the rabbit monster gave him another thumbs up, causing the eyeball monster to sweat even more. "If we could find out where we were, one of us could go out and search for the town. Then we could get medicine for Holly and get the hell out of this forest."

"Great idea, Suezo! We need to find out what direction to go!" Genki exclaimed as he ignored the ruined dishes behind him.

This would be, however, another task in its own.

* * *

Thanks again for reading, guys! You're the best! There's not much for references in this one. In just about every episode, Golem throws Suezo into the air and always forgets to catch him. XD And, yes, Golem has cleaned dishes before! In the episode "Hare's Trick", after Hare tricks the rebels into staying at the hotel so in the morning they're about a few thousand golds in dept, Golem has to stay behind and clean dishes. He looks so cute in the apron. XD Also, the same thing happens in the Japanese Monster Rancher mangas. I just felt that since he's so huge, he'd probably have a hard time cleaning such tiny objects without breaking them a little. Thanks again for reading!

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	5. Chapter 5: Are We There Yet?

Again, I'm writing this from work so it's kind of rushed. I started my summer class yesterday, so I'll be less active in writing my stories. I hope to dish out a few chapters of this, though, since I want to finish it by the end of June. Working full time is rather brutal, too. Anyways! Thanks again everyone for all of your great feedback! Whenever I go into my email and see a notification that someone sent me a review or a message, I get so excited! XD

This is set sometime between Grey Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 5. Are We There Yet?**

The leaves on the surrounding trees ruffled as a soft wind gently blew onto them while birds chirped from the branches and several squirrels scurried up the trunks of the trees. Small, fragile flowers swayed slightly as bees landed onto the soft pedals to gather the sweet pollen. Small water bugs skimmed the surface of the clear creek as they made their way down the current as if they didn't care where they went. This peaceful and relaxing scene is what would have been had a group of determined and simple-minded rebels hadn't made their camp in the middle of this particular wooded ecosystem. Instead, it was like a war zone.

"That way is East! EAST! Do you know nothing about directions?"

"I know plenty! I know, though, that we were heading North!"

"No, we were heading East!"

"East? I thought we were heading West."

"Where do you get West from?"

"Well, where do you get East from?"

"Golem thought… we were going South…"

"South? No way!"

"Mocchi thought we were going Central, chi!"

"…Central isn't a direction, Mocchi."

"Oh! Never mind, chi!"

Never before had the group ever have to determine which way to go and which direction to take. The Magic Stone had always guided the Courageous Seven to wherever they were destined to go. This was not the case at the moment, however, since Holly was too ill to seek the Stone's guidance. Now, the remaining six rebels found themselves in yet another predicament. If they could find the nearest village, they could obtain medicine for the sick brunette and they could be on their merry way. It wasn't all that easy, however, and there was a lot of risks.

"Hmm… this isn't working, guys. None of us remember which way we were heading." Genki mumbled as he sat down in aggravation.

"True... if we go the wrong way, we may just end up back tracking which will accomplish nothing. If we get lost in these woods, we could be risking Holly's life. We need to be sure which direction to go before heading out." Hare said with a nod from his spot near Holly.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Suezo frowned as he watched Hare like a hawk. He wasn't going to let the rabbit monster get too much satisfaction of being that close to Holly.

"If we were to separate and each go a different direction, then maybe one of us will get to a clearing which will lead to a town. It's the only thing I can come up with."

"Great idea! Let's try that out!" Genki announced as he slipped his rollerblades on before pumping his arms in the air. "With the six of us, we're bound to find something!"

"Eh hem. You mean five, right? Holly needs someone here to take care of her and protect her." Hare said with a nod as the others sweated.

"I have a better idea." Tiger said with a smug look. "Why doesn't Golem stay here to look after Holly and Hare comes with us? After all, if Golem goes it'll take awhile for him to find anything. Hare is faster and more nimble. We don't want the sound of Golem's footsteps to alert any Baddies, either."

At the suggestion, the entire group looked back down at Hare, who was now looking rather annoyed and slightly shocked. The rabbit monster frowned as he glared at Tiger, who in turn kept his smug look.

"That's a great idea! Come on, Hare! You're on scout duty with us!" Genki said with a grin as Hare's glare strengthened at Tiger.

"Oh, fine." Hare huffed as he pulled himself out of the sleeping bag with hesitation.

"Okay, guys. Before we head out, I say Suezo does one of his in the air searches. Maybe you'll find something." The young boy said with a nod as the other rebels turned to face the now fear stricken eyeball monster.

"No way! Every time I get thrown in the air, Golem never catches me!" Suezo shouted as a vein formed on the back of his head. "How can you forget to catch your friend who's screaming at the top of his lungs?"

"Golem is… sorry, Suezo. Golem will catch… you this time…" Golem stated as he gave his friend a look of apology.

"Do it for Holly, chi." Mocchi piped up. Everyone knew Holly was Suezo's biggest weakness, and he couldn't say no to something that would help her.

"Oh, alright. You better catch me, though!"

With that said, Golem picked up the Suezo pure-bred before launching the monster as far as he could in the air. With a small yelp and a feeling of nausea, Suezo was catapulted into the air at an extreme speed. When he finally slowed down a little, Suezo immediately began to quickly search and examine the area. From all directions, all the eyeball monster could spot was endless amounts of trees that seemed to go on forever.

"I don't see anything, guys! Just forest!"

At that point, Suezo began to feel his stomach lurch as he felt his body begin to fall back down to Earth. The air rushed passed his entire body as he screamed Golem's name several times.

"GOLEM!"

Down below, Golem prepared himself as he watched Suezo begin to get closer and closer to him. Suddenly, a small cough was heard from behind the rock monster. He found himself glance over to see Holly shudder slightly before turning over in her sleep, her arms still wrapped around her stomach from the earlier meal. Golem still felt guilty about that, and he hoped that the poor girl would recover soon.

**THUMP.**

Golem sweated as he found himself back in reality and slowly turning around to see Suezo now about eight feet in the ground. The other rebels sweated as they looked into the hole, and Tiger took a glance down before kicking a pebble down into the hole, which hit the unconscious Suezo on the head, just for the heck of it.

"At least he's quiet now." Tiger muttered as he turned around with a shrug.

"….you guys… are evil…"

* * *

The group rebels, now in a circle formation with a very grumpy Suezo still muttering profanities, looked down at a crude compass Genki had quickly drawn into the dirt on the ground. He didn't want the group to end up going the same way, so it was best to plan it out before hand.

"Okay guys. Tiger, you go North, Hare will go South, Suezo will go West and I'll go East." Genki said with a smile as he pointed to each direction while speaking, as if he was a military general.

"What about Mocchi, chi?" The small penguin-like monster said quietly with a frown before Genki smiled and picked him up.

"Don't worry, Mocchi. You're coming with me." The young boy smiled to his partner before looking over to the rest of the group. "Okay guys! Let's go!

With that, the five rebels split off in different direction in hopes of finding any kind of civilization. The forest was dense and full of plant life, making it ten times more difficult to see anything. Even the sun had a hard time leaking through the thick canopy of leaves.

Tiger grinned as he watched the other four rebels flee into the woods, though his eyes specifically fell onto Hare. His plan had worked perfectly.

* * *

Suezo grumbled to himself as he hopped through the mess that was considered a forest. With his patients already gone, this wasn't making his day any better. With a sigh, the eyeball monster kept hopping forward as he had been commanded to do.

'_If it wasn't for Holly, there's no way I'd ever do this.'_ He thought bitterly to himself as he hopped aimlessly to the West. After over an hour of searching, Suezo was exhausted. The yellow monster frown when he noticed the slight light that came through the tree tops slowly beginning to get an orange tint.

"Uh, the sun's starting to set! I gotta get out of here!" Suezo shuddered as he began to hop in the opposite direction he came from. Suddenly, his "leg" fell straight down into a sink hole that had been undetectable to the naked eye.

"Damnnit!" The eyeball monster cursed his luck as he used his tongue to grab onto a nearby branch to pull himself out. With one last tug, his body was freed from the muddy hole as he let out a relieved sigh. A sharp pain from his side caught the monster off guard, though, as he looked down to see a mosquito now making a meal of him.

With an annoyed grunt, Suezo crushed the insect with his leg before looking down at the red blemish. Oh, how he _hated _insects. The very thought of them made his skin crawl. Another pain on his body caused the pure-bred monster to turn to his other side, where another mosquito was now enjoying a free meal. Frustrated, Suezo smacked the insect with a frown.

"…gross…"

Suddenly, the annoying buzzing sound that only the dreaded mosquito can create filled Suezo's head as he turned to see hundreds of mosquitoes emerging from the sink hole he had just been in.

"…oh… crap…"

* * *

Hare trudged along through the woods as he looked for a way out just as the others had. Although the rabbit monster enjoyed traveling, he definitely preferred the open road over the ominous forest any day.

"It's getting dark… maybe I should head back…" He whispered to himself as he turned around, just to be met with a face full of spider web. Hare reeled back in shock as he began to spit out the webbing.

"Yuck! I hate the woods!" Hare shouted as he spit out the remaining web from his mouth. At that moment, the rabbit monster could feel more webbing on the back of his neck. Without hesitation the Hare pure-bred scraped the web off as quickly as he could.

"This is… giving me the creeps." Hare shuddered as he pulled out a one of several flares the group had. It was better to be safe than sorry. With a small click, the flare burst with life as the fire at the tip lit up the area for the monster to see. Hare found himself gulp in fright as he looked up into the treetops, where spider webs had covered every tree and spiders hung from every branch.

He wished he was back in Holly's sleeping bag.

* * *

"Man, these trees go on forever." Genki complained as Mocchi nodded his head in agreement. His legs hurt and he was still hungry, so for once Genki was actually lacking energy. It was quite amazing, really.

"Mocchi scared, chi." The pink penguin-like monster shivered as he clutched onto Genki's back.

"Ah, there's nothing to be afraid of out here. We beat three out of the four Big Bad Four. There's nothing out there that can get to us." The young boy bragged as Mocchi smiled in agreement.

"I have an idea. Since we can't see from down here, I'm gonna climb one of these trees. You stay down here, Mocchi, and keep guard." Genki stated as he took his book bag and rollerblades off before starting to climb up the closest tree. Mocchi watched in amazement as Genki scaled the tree like a lizard.

"See anything, chi?"

Genki looked out from the tree, but a large branch was in the way of his vision. With a grunt, the young boy pushed the branch to the side before looking at the sky with awe.

"Mocchi! You have to see this sunset!" Genki called down to his partner. Before he could get a better view, a pain filled the young boy's arm as he flinched and looked down. A small red welt had formed on his arm, and there still in the air was a rather peeved looking hornet. Genki gulped and looked at the branch that he had moved, which he could now see had a rather large hornets' nest on the bottom side. All at once, hornets began to swarm the tree as Genki yelped from getting several stings.

Mocchi gasped and grabbed onto a vine so he could climb up and help his friend, but when he tugged into the vine, the vine whipped around and glared at its holder. Mocchi felt sweat form on the back of his head as he came face-to-face with an intimidating snake who didn't look very happy.

"EHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Golem yawned as he looked off into the sunset. How long had the others been gone for? A half hour? An hour? Two hours? Time seemed to overlap itself as the stone monster frowned as he looked at the surrounding forest. Suddenly, a rustle from the bushes caused Golem to get on edge as he prepared himself for almost anything. He hadn't prepared himself for the sight that greeted him, though.

Suezo was covered head to toe in horrible mosquito bites, Hare was covered in spider webs and was shaking, Genki had dozens of bee stings covering his body, and Mocchi looked a pale and had bruises on him as if he had been crushed.

"What happened… to you guys?" Golem asked in concern as the rebels just waved him off.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Suezo said with a frown as he sulked off.

"Yeah, let's just forget that ever happened…" Hare trailed off as a chill ran down his back.

"Did you… find anything…? Golem asked with a sweat as the rebels laughed in irony.

"Find anything? FIND ANYTHING? Well, if you want to start a mosquito farm, I can show you where you can start off." Suezo barked as the other rebels sweated. This hadn't gone as they had planned.

"Well, what about Tiger? Did he have any luck?" Genki asked as he painfully put some ointment on his bee stings.

"No… Tiger got back… awhile ago. He didn't find… anything." Golem said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I had no luck."

Tiger's voice cut through the campsite as all the rebels turned their heads to the only companion who wasn't hurt, dirty, or scarred for life. The wolf-like monster was curled up in Holly's sleeping bag with a sly grin on his face. Holly's face was nestled into the canine monster's mane as she slept peacefully by his side.

With the glares exchanged between Hare, Tiger, and Suezo, the other rebels knew this was the start of a fight.

* * *

My calculations go that, not including this chapter, that there will be about 3 chapters left. So much for a one-shot, huh? Some references! I don't know what episode, but at one point the group is walking through a forest and these little bugs are driving Suezo CRAZY. I mean, he's so pissed and it's great. XD Of course, everyone knows when Suezo is launched in the air by Golem; Golem always misses on catching him. I mean, I know there are about 2 episodes where Golem _does_ catch Suezo, but 2 out of 74 are pretty bad. XD In the episode "Run Tiger, Run!", at the very beginning, Hare is really nervous about being in the woods. He's super creeped out, and then Suezo scares the hell out of him. XD That's it for references. In the next chapter, I'm having some ideas exchanged with my good friend Dark Fox Tailz about the Tiger and Hare fight scenes. It will be interesting. ^_^ Thanks for all of your support!

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	6. Chapter 6: Duke It Out!

I'm sorry for the wait on this chapter! I've been so busy with school and work. I'm writing this again at work, which makes me a bad role model. XD But my inspiration to write is back now that I have my awesome Holly trading card. My life is complete. XD A lot of the first fight scene between Tiger and Hare is from discussions I had with Dark Fox Tailz. He came up with just about most of it; I just tweaked them a little to flow with what I had already written. So give him credit, too! ^_~

This is set sometime between Grey Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 6. Duke It Out!**

This one day had been an abnormally bad one. First Holly fell ill which forced the group to make camp in the middle of an unknown forest. Second, Hare had made quite the scene with the whole keeping Holly "warm" incident. Third, the group not only made Holly feel worse with berries not fit for human consumption, but they also learned the hard way that cooking takes a lot more effort than it seems. Forth, the group learned that cleaning dishes isn't all that it seems to be and that using a rock to clean spoons is a terrible idea. Fifth, the rebels found themselves at the mercy of the never ending forest where there seemed to be no exit and without the Magic Stone, they were helpless. How could things get any worse?

"Tiger, what are you doing?"

Genki watched Hare and Tiger exchange heated glances as Suezo looked like he was ready to tear someone's face off. Instead of searching for a way out of the forest, Tiger had, instead, decided that Holly still needed warmth and that this time he would provide it for her. Although it was a kind act, that didn't mean it would be a good outcome.

"Holly was shivering, so I took Hare's advice from earlier and laid next to Holly. You were right, Hare. Holly _does_ like my fur." Tiger stated with a smug look as he kept direct eye contact with Hare.

"Well, now that I'm back you can get up and I'll take over." Hare huffed as he took a step forward, though he stopped when Tiger didn't budge.

"Thanks for the offer, bunny, but I have this under control." The wolf monster said with a sly grin as he watched Hare begin to get aggravated.

"You don't know what you're doing! You'll probably end up suffocating her or something!" Hare scowled as he watched Tiger brush the insult.

"I don't know about that. Holly seems happy." Tiger smiled as he looked down at the sleeping brunette who was clinging onto his mane with a content look on her face.

"That's because she probably doesn't know it's a ferocious wolf sleeping next to her!"

"And you're any less intimidating?"

"Of course! I'm like a cute and cuddly teddy bear."

"Oh, please!"

The rebels sweated as they watched the duo once again begin to argue, though none of them had it in them to step between them to break it up. Doing that was just about as smart as going into a cage full of lions with a steak tied your back.

"What should we do, chi?" Mocchi asked Genki as they watched the two feuding monsters begin to get more defensive. "How do we stop them, chi?"

"I… I dunno, Mocchi. I've never separated them before." Genki admitted with a frown. "Maybe we should just let them duke it out?"

"That's a terrible idea! Do you want them waking up every last Baddie in the forest?" Suezo scowled as Genki turned to face the eyeball monster.

"Well, why don't _you _stop them then?" Genki demanded as he clenched his fists together.

"Heck no! I don't wanna die just yet! You go do it, kid! You're the Monster Champ, right?" The eyeball monster chuckled with sarcasm as Genki blushed in embarrassment.

"Shut up, Suezo!"

"No, _you _shut up, Genki!"

Mocchi watched the young boy and the Suezo purebred begin to argue amongst them with a frown on his face. Now what would they do?

"Genki… Suezo… stop fighting. We do not… have the time… to fight with… each other…" Golm's voice of wisdom spoke up from the sidelines as both Genki and Suezo turned their attention to the rock monster.

"Of course you say that! You don't want us to fight because you know eventually I'll bring up the fact that YOU ALWAYS FORGET TO CATCH ME!"

"I do not… mean to, Suezo! It is always… an accident!" Golem defended as he was quickly dragged into the fight as well. Only Mocchi remained on the sidelines as he watched Golem try to get himself out of the fight between Genki and Suezo and he watched Tiger and Hare still getting ready for some form of fight.

"…what now, chi…?"

The sweet cake monster's attention was pulled over to the fight between Hare and Tiger, who were currently almost to their limits of insults. Many of the words the two monsters spoke of he had never heard before, but he had a vague idea they weren't meant for young monsters' ears. Holly would often scold Suezo when he said the words Hare and Tiger were now shouting out.

"If you're so tough, Tiger of the Break Wind, then get out of that sleeping bag and fight me!"

With that said, Tiger (though carefully so not to disturb Holly) stood up from the warmth of the sleeping bag and walked over to Hare so they were only a few inches apart. A growl emitted from the back of his throat as he felt embarrassment rise to his face from the last insult. He wasn't going to let Hare get away with poking fun at his name like that.

Hare and Tiger were now nose to nose, glaring and growling at one another with their teeth partly showing clinched together. Mocchi watched with fright and anxiety as the two monsters circled each other like it was some kind of cage match.

"Go ahead and try it Tiger, I dare ya!" Hare scowled as he quickly took off his trademark red bandana from around his neck to ensure it didn't get ruined before tossing it to Mocchi. The young monster caught the cloth as he still watched his two comrades.

"Alright, bunny, you ask for it!" Tiger moved away from Hare only to lunge on his hind legs back at Hare who managed to grab a hold of both of his front paws. They began grunting while clinging to each other while throwing punches and kicks as the two monsters started making their way towards a large puddle of mud that had been formed by the moisture from the creek. Before either of them could react, Tiger and Hare went straight into the disgusting mess. Now both monsters were covered with the wet dirt as they wrestled around by rolling back and forth in the mud yelling nasty obscenities at the other. Mud was flying everywhere as they fought in the mud puddle as Mocchi sweated as he watched the two. If Holly were awake right now, she would have thrown a fit about the two monsters fighting.

The fighting went on for what seemed like hours; though in actuality it had been around a half hour. Exhaustion was the cause for the fighting between the rebels to end, though at least it hadn't gotten physical between Suezo and Genki. Hare and Tiger, however, were a different story. Now covered in mud and bruises, the two rebels had left the fighting scene on poor terms. Neither of them wanted to even see the other, and the glares that were being sent between each other were making the other rebels nervous.

"Because I'm civilized, I'm going to clean up." Hare stated as he stomped away from the camp, but not before turning around and calling out, "…unlike some _other_ member of our team that is more primitive and prefers being filthy."

"Feh, I already planned on clean up, rabbit, so I'd watch yourself." Tiger growled as he walked off toward the creek, though further down then from where Hare was cleaning up.

Genki sighed as he watched the two go before looking at the other rebels. He knew they were starting to wear at each other, and the stress of the situation wasn't helping. Making up with Suezo was do-able, but Tiger and Hare's situation was a whole other story. He knew the duo didn't like each other, but normally they just lived with it and would only have little spats. This was something new, though, and Genki didn't like it. What if this new actually physically fighting thing between Tiger and Hare went too far? Would they actually be willing to kill the other?

Genki's thoughts were broken when Holly let out a small cough before turning over and shivering. The young boy frowned as he grabbed his own blanket and placed it on the ill girl's body. Immediately the sick brunette stopped shivering and her breathes became more normal.

"…thank you…" Holly breathed out quietly as a small smile formed on her sleeping face.

'_Holly would know what to do… she could always stop their fights…_' The young boy thought with a frown as he watched Holly sleep for a moment before he headed back over to the other rebels.

"…hey, Suezo?"

The eyeball monster turned to the young boy who called his name out in slight confusion as Genki sat down next to him. Things were still a bit awkward between the two after their argument earlier, and Suezo wasn't really in the mood for small talk at the moment.

"What is it, kid?" Suezo asked with a huff as he stubbornly looked away.

"Look, Suezo, I'm sorry about earlier. We need to stop this fighting, though, because we have enough trouble with Tiger and Hare right now and I need for us to be on the same side." Genki apologized even though deep down he didn't really feel he had to. It did, however, work since Suezo loves it when people apologize to him first.

"Alright, kid. But what do we do? Tiger and Hare are at an all time high for their anger meters. If we try talking to them, it won't work."

"Yeah, I know. I've never seen these two so worked up before." Genki sighed as he used a stick to draw shaped on the dirt ground from frustration. "We're not getting anywhere fighting like this."

Before the young boy and eyeball monster could continue their conversation, a rustle from the bushes caught their attention. After a moment, a now clean Hare emerged from the foliage with a grin on his face.

"Hey guys! The creek water is great! You should take a bath later." Hare called out as he came back to the camp, dripping wet. At that moment, Tiger also returned to the camp soaking wet as did his best to shake off some of the water. Both monsters reached down at the same time, though, for the same towel, and immediately the two began to glare at one another.

"You don't need a towel, Tiger! You're a dog! Just shake yourself dry!"

"That only gets me somewhat dry! And if my fur isn't completely dry then it gets matted, so I need the towel!"

"I need it more!"

With that, both monsters grabbed one end of the towel before the two began to pull on it like a tug-of-war match. The other rebels watched with interest, but kept out of it. Even though Genki preached about courage, he wasn't stupid enough to jump in the middle of this.

"It's mine!"

"No, it's mine!"

With one last yank, the towel ripped into two separate pieces. Both Hare and Tiger flew back from the force before looking down at the ruined cloth. Immediately, the two monsters glared at each other before getting into the other's face.

"This is your fault, Tiger! I had it first!"

"That's not true! I had it! Now you ruined it!"

Once again, a fight erupted from the duo as they began to circle each other with dangerous gleams in their eyes. Tiger snarled at the rabbit monster as he watched his every move to ensure he would have the upper hand. He wouldn't allow Hare to make a fool out of him again since he still had the bruises he had gotten earlier.

Hare was equally determined to beat Tiger once and for all using his wit to his advantage. Although Tiger was strong and fast, Hare was equally as fast and was quick to think up a strategy. He was ready to beat the wolf monster with any tactics he could come up with.

"I've had it with your games, bunny. This ends now." Tiger growled as he got into a pouncing stance.

"You read my mind, Tiger." Hare glowered as he brought his arms up into a boxing stance.

Genki held onto Mocchi as they watched their two friends get ready to maul each other. He tried his best to come up with any idea to break up the oncoming battle, but nothing came to mind. He had thought to ask Golem to grab the two and separate them, but he knew that they would probably use long distance attacks that would not only hurt their target, but also Golem.

"This is gonna be bad…" Suezo said with a gulp. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a butter knife. "What do we do?"

As if an answer to his question, a small shadow suddenly appeared over the battle field that Tiger and Hare were currently occupying. The duo didn't notice it, and they slowly began to charge up their attacks. Before they could land a blow, though, a voice broke through the awkward silence.

"LIGHTNING!"

All at once, a large orb of electricity flew right in between the two fighting monsters before it exploded. Tiger and Hare were both sent flying in opposite directions, but they quickly stood up to see their attacker, though both a little dazed. The other rebels had to shield their eyes from the light and from the debris from the explosion before they could look at the newcomer. Genki was the first to react as his pupils got small and he let out a surprised gasp.

"PIXIE!"

* * *

Oooohhhh… drum roll please! *Pulls out a drum and does a drum roll* I want to thank Dark Fox Tailz again for his help on this chapter! It was his idea to have the tug-of-war scene over the towel, the mud puddle fight scene, and the tiny detail to have Hare take off his bandana so it wouldn't get ruined. He's been the biggest supporter of this story. Thank you! *Hugs Dark Fox Tailz* I also used the idea given to me by archsage328 to have Pixie show up. She'll be a main part in the next chapter. So thank you! :3 Only 2 more chapters! Huzzah! I'm so tired and I need some aspirin, so I'm done my rant. XD

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	7. Chapter 7: Setting Order

Oh my… I'm so sorry for my long delay with this story. I'm only a few days away from finishing my summer class, and after that things will be easier. I apologize for my lack of responding in the last month. I swear I'm not ignoring anyone! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Again, the idea for Pixie to show up was archsage328 and a few other Hare and Tiger ideas are from Dark Fox Tailz. That's another reason why this chapter took so long to write. For this story I've been taking all suggestions so I really had to plan this out so that I could use everyone's ideas. I started this with a recap only because I ended the last chapter at a cliffhanger. This is so people don't have to go back to read how Pixie ended up here. ^_^ Also in this, if you watched the show a lot, you notice that around after the episode "I am Pixie", Pixie starts to refer to Big Blue as just "Blue". I use this since I think it's cute.

This is set sometime between Grey Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 7. Setting Order**

_"I've had it with your games, bunny. This ends now." Tiger growled as he got into a pouncing stance._

_"You read my mind, Tiger." Hare glowered as he brought his arms up into a boxing stance._

_Genki held onto Mocchi as they watched their two friends get ready to maul each other. He tried his best to come up with any idea to break up the oncoming battle, but nothing came to mind. He had thought to ask Golem to grab the two and separate them, but he knew that they would probably use long distance attacks that would not only hurt their target, but also Golem._

_"This is gonna be bad…" Suezo said with a gulp. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a butter knife. "What do we do?"_

_As if an answer to his question, a small shadow suddenly appeared over the battle field that Tiger and Hare were currently occupying. The duo didn't notice it, and they slowly began to charge up their attacks. Before they could land a blow, though, a voice broke through the awkward silence._

_"LIGHTNING!"_

_All at once, a large orb of electricity flew right in between the two fighting monsters before it exploded. Tiger and Hare were both sent flying in opposite directions, but they quickly stood up to see their attacker, though both a little dazed. The other rebels had to shield their eyes from the light and from the debris from the explosion before they could look at the newcomer. Genki was the first to react as his pupils got small and he let out a surprised gasp._

_"PIXIE!"_

The rebels, now a little disorientated and confused, found themselves staring at the new arrival that now stood before them. Pixie, in all of her glory, glared at the group with a look that could stop an army of Zuums in their tracks. Even though they were dubbed the Courageous Seven, the rebels found themselves feeling rather intimidated at the moment.

"Uh, hey Pixie! What are you doing?" Genki spoke up first, but he quickly found himself slinking back a little when the former Big Bad Four member turned her glare to him.

"What am I doing? WHAT AM I DOING? I should be asking you fools that!" Pixie spat as the rebels sweated at her tone of voice. The sound of large footsteps could be heard coming, and the rebels knew Big Blue wasn't far behind Pixie. With a few trees snapping and falling to the ground, Big Blue emerged from the wooded area into the clearing. The rebels could tell the Golem sub breed had a hard time keeping up with his "master".

"Master Pixie! I heard an explosion! Are you hurt?" Big Blue asked as Pixie merely shook her head before sighing in aggravation.

"No, Blue, I was the one who fired the attack." Pixie huffed as Big Blue sweated slightly. He wasn't going to question why the Pixie pure bred had attacked her friends. Doing that would be insane.

"Yeah! Why'd you attack us?" Suezo asked, but quickly regretted it as Pixie scowled and clenched her hands into fists.

"Why? WHY? Because you guys are pathetic! I mean, look at you! Fighting at a time like this when your teammate is sick! I'm amazed you've made it this far! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Pixie hollered as she crossed her arms.

'_She only cares because they're the ones who defeated her.'_ Big Blue thought to himself as a sweat mark formed on his head as he watched his companion scold the rebels.

"I mean, come on! How have you guys gotten this far without being able to cook?"

"Well, normally Holly does all the cooking and stuff like that." Genki frowned as he looked down at the ground in order to not make eye contact with Pixie. Doing that would probably set her off on another rant.

"Hey, wait a second! If you saw us cooking, just how long have you been watching us?" Hare asked slyly as Pixie shifted nervously.

"Well… uh…"

"We've been watching your group all day."

"Blue!"

"…sorry, Master Pixie."

The rebels sweated as they watched Pixie turn her attention to her Golem companion as she hushed him before turning her attention back to the rebels. It was true, the rebels had made enough commotion that Pixie had been able to scout them out earlier in the day, though she hadn't expected them to be in such a bad position. She was, however, curious to see their survival skills, but that turned out to be quite the disappointment.

"If you sit around in these woods too much longer, Naga's troops are going to hunt you down easily." Pixie changed the subject quickly, and Big Blue noted his master's excellent 'changing the subject' ability. It was almost as good as her 'I really care, but I won't show it' ability.

"True, but we can't move with Holly sick like this." Hare pointed out as the group's attention was turned to the currently sleeping brunette. Pixie's expression softened a little as her attention turned to the ill girl, and she couldn't help but feel sympathy. After all, Holly was probably the one member of the rebel group that didn't get on her nerves or that she didn't want to strangle at times.

"Oh, fine! If it'll get you people moving, I'll help you out. I'm only doing this so we can move on and defeat Naga, though. It has nothing to do with _you_." Pixie huffed as she made her way over to Holly's side before picking the sleeping girl up. The rebels stood in their spots gawking at the new comer carrying away their comrade before Suezo spoke up.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The eyeball monster exclaimed in shock and anger. "Put her back!"

"Be quiet, you fool. I'm going to clean her up a little." Pixie huffed as the rebels' faces turned a little red. "And don't you dare sneak any peeks! Blue, you make sure these six buffoons stay here."

"I will, Master Pixie."

With that, Pixie quickly took her leave as the rebels were left in silence. Big Blue stayed alert as he watched the group like a hawk, ready to react to any movement they made.

"So… uh… how has your journey been?" Genki asked awkwardly as the large rock monster turned his gaze toward the boy.

"It's been fine. We've had a few run in with Baddies, but we handled it." Big Blue said with a nod. The Golem sub breed was feeling rather out of place and awkward among the rebels, though he wouldn't admit that.

"Hmm… the Baddies must be getting stronger if they feel they're good enough to take on a former Big Bad Four member." Hare said to himself from his seat next to Genki.

Tiger frowned as he looked over to the rest of the rebels. He was still achy from his battle with Hare and with his encounter with Pixie. He wouldn't let Hare win, though. Hare had been getting out of doing work all day by staying with Holly, but the wolf monster refused to let him have that satisfaction. Why should he have to work while Hare gets to lie around all day? With Hare busy sitting with the rest of the group, this was his chance. With one glance at the occupied rebels, Tiger quickly made his way back into Holly's sleeping bag before curling up and closing his eyes. This would benefit both him and Holly, for not only would he get some rest but Holly would benefit from his fur when she returned from getting cleaned up.

'_Besides, she'll need more warmth since she'll be damp.'_ Tiger thought to himself as he slowly drifted to sleep.

The sky was darkening quickly as the sun seemed to sink under the horizon. Before they knew it, the sky was as dark as Pixie's mood. The group was quiet as they merely sat there; too nervous to get up and move in fear of Big Blue thinking they would try to spy on what Pixie was up to. Hare was, though, the first one to stand up and stretch his legs before turning to Big Blue.

"Pixie will be back with Holly soon, so I'm going to be ready to warm Holly up when they get back. So don't worry; I'm not going down to the creek or anything." The rabbit monster said with a wave of his hand as he headed over to Holly's sleeping back. Hare quickly slipped into the soft fabric, but he immediately felt another presence in the bag with him. The rabbit monster slowly extended his hand to feel around, only to grab onto Tiger's muzzle. The wolf like monster shot awake with shock as he turned to come face to face with his worst nightmare.

"HARE!"

"AHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?"

"I SHOULD BE ASKING _YOU_ THAT!"

The moment was filled with an extremely awkward silence before either of the two monsters spoke up. The other rebels and Big Blue had already heard the ruckus and were now watching the duo with mixed expressions. This was just of those days.

"Man, I wish I had a camera." Genki said with a grin as he held back a laugh.

"Camera, chi?"

"It's a device in my world that lets people take pictures so you can keep them forever." Genki explained as Mocchi nodded his head in understanding. "This here would be one of those pictures you'd want to keep." The boy smirked as he pointed to his two angered comrades.

"Well, I was here first because I need some rest and I know Holly will be cold when she comes back." Tiger huffed in aggravation.

"Yeah, well, I was designated to keep Holly warm! So get out!" Hare scowled.

"No! You've been nothing but useless this whole day! You just use Holly as an excuse to not work!"

"That's not true! You take that back, mutt!"

With that, the two monsters glared at each other for a moment before the duo began to fight once again. Hare was the first one to land a sharp blow to Tiger's left eye, but the wolf monster quickly got pay back by head-butting the rabbit monster in his right eye. The two monsters began to get rougher by holding and clinging on to each other. They started kicking and biting one another, but the battle was soon over when the sound of ripping fabric was heard throughout the campsite. All four of Tiger's claws as well as both of his horns went tearing through one side of the sleeping bag while Hare's foot claws tore through the other side, causing the two monsters to stop their fight. With hesitation, the duo slowly stood up to see what damages they had caused. Holly's once whole sleeping bag was now shredded and torn in several areas, causing the other rebels to cringe.

"LOOK WHAT YOU TWO NUMBSKULLS DID!" Suezo shouted as he looked down at the ruined sleeping bag. Before the two feuding monsters could reply to the insult, an angered shout broke through the campsite, causing everyone to jump from being startled.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?"

An angry looking Pixie stood at the edge of the campsite with a bundled up Holly in her arms. Even with the shout, the ill girl didn't seem receptive to it and stayed quiet in the blanket. Pixie stormed over to the ruined sleeping bag before her glare shifted to Hare and Tiger. Even Tiger of the Wind had some fear of Pixie. How could he not?

"Answer my question." Pixie hissed as Hare physically flinched and Tiger shifted uncomfortably. "What happened?" She asked slowly, the anger in her eyes not faltering for a moment.

"Well…uh… it's kind of like this… you see-"

"STOP YOUR MUMBLING AND SPEAK UP!"

"We got into a fight and…" Hare muttered as he pointed to the ruined sleeping bag, not needing to finish his sentence.

"Well, then. Since you seem to want to be active, then it's your lucky day." Pixie stated with sarcasm. "You, rabbit, will cook the meals once I leave here and you, mutt, will find firewood. This will go on for a week. Understand?"

"What! But that's not fair!" Hare exclaimed.

"Yeah! Besides, no one here will enforce that." Tiger snorted.

"Feh. Trust me, if you don't your tasks for a week I _will _find out and you _will_ regret it."

The duo sweated slightly as they muttered a few curses before slinking off behind the other rebels. They had enough of Pixie's barking to last them a month. For the other four rebels, this was the best thing in the world. No getting firewood for a week? It doesn't get much better than that. Genki and Suezo were doing their best to hold in the laughs that were threatening to come out at any moment. They would never let Hare and Tiger hear the end of this.

"Now, wolf, go do your job and get some firewood." Pixie ordered as Tiger bit back a retort. He didn't want to dig his grave any deeper if he could help it. With a growl, Tiger ran off into the dense woods to search for usable firewood.

"You, rabbit, are lucky for now. Here, hold onto Holly for now. Keep her bundled up in that blanket or she'll freeze since her hair is still damp." Pixie huffed as she placed Holly's frail body into Hare's arms. The rabbit monster could feel the girl shivering and he felt even guiltier for ruining her sleeping bag.

"You, eyeball. Go to the creek and fetch me a pail of water."

Suezo grumbled before grabbing the pail he had used earlier to gather water to put out the fire before heading out to obtain some more_. 'Ah well. It beats getting firewood.'_ He thought with a snicker as he hopped away.

"As for you, Genki and sweet cake, take these dishes (that are slightly cracked) and rinse them off in the creek. We'll make do with those." Pixie stated as Mocchi sweated slightly at being called "sweet cake".

"Alright, but what about Golem? You're not having him do anything?" Genki asked as he gathered up the plates they had ruined earlier. They may be cracked, but they still had a couple more uses out of them.

"Ah, just get moving!" Pixie ordered as Genki and Mocchi bolted toward the creek. Truth be told, because of Big Blue, Pixie had a soft spot for Golem species. She would _never_ tell anyone that, though.

Suezo was the first one to return with a pail of fresh water from the creek. He quickly placed the liquid next to Pixie before hopping next to Golem and sitting down. He didn't want to stand in sight of Pixie since that may result in being forced to do more choirs. Genki and Mocchi returned next with the cleaned up dishes. On inspection by Pixie, they passed the test and the duo sighed with relief.

"Give me your food supply." Pixie ordered as Genki complied with hesitation as he handed her Holly's bag. The former Big Bad Four member took out various vegetables before looking over to the young boy. "Do you have a knife?"

Genki nodded before running over to Holly's supplies before picking up her prized dagger. Although its true meaning was lost to him, the young boy knew it had a strange value to Holly and that the dagger needed to be used carefully. Genki quickly made his way back to the impatient Pixie as he placed the dagger in front of her.

"You can use this, but be careful with it, okay?"

Pixie looked at the dagger with slight confusion as she picked it up and examined it closely. The weapon looked like one that she had seen in the possession of Moo when she worked for him, though she highly doubted it. Why would Holly have something from Moo?

"It'll do." Was Pixie's response as she unsheathed the weapon before cutting the vegetables with ease. Genki and Mocchi watched her with awe as she cut up everything with skill and accuracy.

"Pixie good cook, chi!"

"Feh, I know a little." Pixie shrugged as she poured the water Suezo had gotten into the only pot that hadn't been ruined.

"It's because when we worked for Moo, we found out the slaves that made our food were spitting in it so Master Pixie started making the meals herself." Big Blue stated.

"Blue!"

"…sorry, Master Pixie."

After several minutes, Tiger returned with a good amount of firewood to start a fire, but not enough to last long. The wolf monster had to carry the wood by placing a few pieces on a large branch before dragging the entire branch through the woods. Getting firewood is a difficult task if you only have paws.

"Hmm, go out and get more wood." Pixie ordered as she watched Tiger tense up. She was really pushing his buttons. With an aggravated growl, Tiger stormed back into the woods in search of more firewood. Suezo was doing all he could to not burst out laughing at this point since he didn't want to end up in a similar punishment by Pixie. That or have Tiger come kill him in his sleep.

"FIRE!"

A shot of fire flew from Pixie's fingertip and lit the wood to create a decent fire. She fanned the fire slightly with her wings before placing the pot full of water over the fire to boil. With a satisfied smirk, Pixie then scrapped the diced vegetables into the boiling water before using Holly's ladle to stir the mixture. With a few pitches of different spices from Holly's spice stash, the stew in progress simmered lightly and a satisfying aroma filled the air.

"You're a natural chef!" Hare said with a laugh. "You could make a lot of money selling your cooking!"

"Feh. Don't flatter me, rabbit. Since you didn't cook, you're doing the dishes after." Pixie huffed as Hare sweated slightly. Sweet talking Pixie didn't seem to work.

What felt like hours went by, the stew was finally done cooking and Tiger had returned with more wood. Before the rebels could lunge at the stew like cats going for catnip, Pixie smacked each of their hands away from the meal.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Suezo grumbled as he looked over at Pixie.

"I'm not letting you savages ruin this." Pixie hisses, and only Big Blue didn't back away slightly in fear. "I'll dish out your meal one at a time, got that?"

Each of the rebels nodded their heads numbly as Pixie violently snatched away each of their bowls before filling each of them up with fresh stew. The rebels kept staring at the meal with hunger in their eyes before Pixie dished out one last bowl.

"Okay, you can eat now."

Pixie and Big Blue sweated as the rebels, except for Holly and Golem, began to eat the stew like animals. From her point of view, it didn't even look like they were swallowing. Big Blue looked over to Golem, who only shook his head and shrugged in response. This was how it always was.

Pixie swore to herself before taking Holly from Hare, who was also eating like a maniac. Cradling Holly with care, Pixie gently shook the ill girl in order to wake her up. After what she saw today, she knew Holly hadn't kept anything down in her stomach and she was already dehydrated. '_I can't believe these idiots made it this far. How do they do it?'_ Pixie thought to herself, but her attention was adverted when Holly let out a small whimper and began to shiver.

"Holly? You awake?"

"..ug…Pixie…?"

Holly's eyes were feverish and tired, but it was relieving to Pixie to see her awake. _'I'm getting soft, feeling bad for humans like this!' _Pixie mentally scolded herself.

"Uh, yeah, it's me. I have some food for you." Pixie stated awkwardly.

Holly could feel her stomach screaming to deny the food. After her last few meals that day, she didn't think she could ever eat again. "No thank you… thank you… very much, though…" Holly refused weakly, though politely.

"How about I rephrase that? If you don't eat something, you won't recover. So, it's either you willingly take in this stew or I'll have to force feed you."

Holly sweated as she felt the intimidating wrath of Pixie beginning to creep up on her. She still was unsure of how to deal with Pixie, so it was better to not annoy or anger her. With a defeated sigh, Holly feverishly looked up at Pixie and nodded. "Okay… just a little…"

Feeling triumphant for threatening a sick girl into eating, Pixie held onto the bowl of soup as she awkwardly spoon fed the ill girl in her arms. For the first time in her life, Pixie had never felt anyone being so dependent on her. It wasn't a bad feeling, by any means. The stew was warm and relaxing to Holly, and for the first time that day she didn't feel her gag reflex ready for action. When Holly was done, she tiredly looked up at Pixie and smiled weakly.

"Thank you… Pixie…"

Pixie felt herself blush from embarrassment as the young girl fell back asleep in her arms, though she was shivering far less now. With a sigh of relief, the winged monster placed the empty bowl on the ground before she heard a muffled giggled. Her attention was immediately turned to the rebels and Big Blue, who had watched her whole heart to heart moment with Holly.

"Grrr! What are you guys staring at? Rabbit, go clean these dishes and the rest of you, go do something useful!" Pixie shouted with embarrassment, though she immediately regretted it when Holly shifted slightly in her arms from the discomfort of Pixie's yelling. With one glare from Pixie, the rebels all split to avoid any back lash from her.

"Wasn't that cute?" Hare said with a smirk as he walked into the woods with Suezo, carrying dirty dishes.

'_Cute? I thought it was hot…'_ Suezo thought to himself as a sweat mark formed on his head, though he nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, very cute."

* * *

After Hare was done cleaning the dishes, the group of anti-Moo rebels sat around the roaring campfire as Pixie sat with Holly in her arms. Mocchi poked the fire gently with a stick as he listened to the older members of the group talk and discuss things that didn't make a whole lot of sense to him.

"I just don't understand you guys. Why the heck would you fart around in the woods with Holly being so sick?" Pixie huffed as she watched the males scramble around for an answer. _'Men.'_ She thought to herself with a sweat_. 'I don't know how you can stand travelling with all guys, Holly.'_

"We split up and went in all four directions, but there was no town in sight!" Genki said with a frown.

"Man, you guys really are stupid." Pixie shook her head with an amused look on her face.

"Hey! What are you talking about?" Suezo asked with a scowl.

"Did you guys go North? There's a small village only an hour walk from here."

The entire group sat there for several minutes before their gaze fell onto Tiger, who had been the one sent to scout out the northern area. He felt himself tense up as he turned his gaze away from the group as they stared at him with intensity.

"Tiger…? Did you even look, chi?"

"Hey wait! That's how you got back before us! I knew there was a catch! This is all your fault, Tiger!"

"Is not, rabbit! I looked for a little while!"

"How long? Five minutes?"

"Shut up!"

Pixie let out an amused snort as she watched the two monsters begin to bicker before she stood and smacked both of them on the head with her fists. "That's enough babbling. Pack up camp and move it. Before you leave, though, take these." She stated as she first placed Holly into Hare's arms before handing Genki a few herbs. "I put some of this in Holly's stew. It brings down fevers for some time. Make sure to keep her warm."

"How do you know all of this?" Genki asked his companion, but she only waved him off.

"When I have comrades like you, I have to know this stuff." Pixie said with a shrug as the rebels sweated. "Now get moving. We'll meet up again. Just try not to get too lost without Big Blue and I." And with that, Pixie and Big Blue marched off in the opposite direction, leaving just as quickly as they had come. The rebels were silent for some time until Holly's cough broke the silence.

"Okay, guys, let's get moving! We have a town to find!"

* * *

One chapter left! WOOT! Thanks everyone for reading! The whole Tiger and Hare in the sleeping bag part was Dark Fox Tailz idea. This was the longest chapter for this story, so can I get a woot woot? *Crickets chirp* ;_; Anyways! Thanks everyone for your input on this story! I already started the next chapter, so it'll be up soon enough. The next chapter is just tying up this whole story and will probably be rather short. I was so happy archsage328 had the Pixie idea. I loved writing her character. Anyways, thanks again for sticking with me through my long low time! I hope to be more active once my class is over, which is in about 2 days.

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


	8. Chapter 8: What Comes Around

Finally, the last chapter of this story. That took about a month and a half longer than I had expected, so I learned that I'm a slow loser. XD Anyways! I want to thank everyone for reading this whole thing. My awesome reviewers of this story are ripitupgenki, Butterflygirl1234, archsage328, Dark Fox Tailz, and Mandy. Thanks again for your wonderful reviews and messages! Without you guys' feedback, I wouldn't have made it this far! I got a review from "unknown", and even though I don't know who you are I really appreciate your feedback as well! Also thank you Dark Fox Tailz for all of your hilarious suggestions and archsage328 for your Pixie idea! ^_^ This chapter will have some comedy mainly provided by Dark Fox Tailz, but this chapter will kind of be on the more serious side as well (I had to add some Genki/Holly moments, of course!).

This is set sometime between Grey Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

**For Granted**

**Chapter 8. What Comes Around…**

A small town surrounded by the peaceful closure of forest was active and flourishing. People walked along side Dinos who were pulling carts of wheat while other villagers carried large buckets of water from the central well. Children ran through the town as they played with their monsters and the relaxing sound of the church bells rang through the air. The peaceful atmosphere was quickly disrupted, however, when the band of tired rebels destroyed the moment. The villagers watched the group of strangers march through their town with curiosity and fear.

"Look! Do you think they're Baddies?"

"I don't see any crests, but you never know!"

Genki sweated as he watched the townsfolk observe them like lab animals. They were tired, dirty, and probably looked like savages to these people. "Well, this is uncomfortable…"

Tiger growled before he ran in front of the villagers before snarling at the innocent people. "You listen here, humans. We need a doctor, _now_!"

"Tiger! Don't be like that or they'll really think we're Moo's men!" Suezo scowled as they watched the villagers pathetically cowering in front of the wolf monster.

"Yeah, chi! Holly needs help!"

"We don't want… to scare anyone… Our friend is… very sick… and we need… help." Golem explained gently to the frightened people as Tiger frowned from being over looked.

"A d-doctor? We h-have one! Just don't hurt us!" One man stuttered and put his hands over his head as the rebels sweated.

"Next time, Tiger, I'll do the talking." Hare huffed.

"Ah, shut up, bunny!"

* * *

The hospital was a small brick building that was at the edge of the town. Although it was a small facility, it was far better then what the rebels could offer Holly for treatment. When the rebels first arrived at the hospital, Holly was immediately placed on a stretcher and wheeled away to one of the few rooms. Suezo had insisted he go in with her, but he had been denied his request. The rest of the group, except for Golem who was too large to fit in the building, was now left to wait in a quaint waiting room. Genki sighed as he found himself looking up at the ceiling from boredom before he looked over to see Mocchi sleeping next to him. He never really went to hospitals, but he did go for yearly checkups and he always hated the smell. There was something about it that made his skin crawl.

"I wonder how much longer…?" Genki asked to no one in particular.

"Considering her state, she'll probably have to spend a day or two here to monitor her condition. We'll have to check in to one of the local inns." Hare stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Several hours past as the rebels stayed loyally in the waiting room before one of the doctors emerged from Holly's room. All at once everyone ran up to the man as they bombarded him with questions about the ill girl. The doctor sweated as he caught Tiger glaring at him, so he quickly responded to the rebels.

"Well, um, she should be okay after some good nights of rest. We gave her some medication that she'll have to stay on for a few weeks, but she should be fine."

"Can we see her?" Genki asked quickly as he looked up hopefully at the man.

"Well, I don't know since she's sleeping and-" The doctor was cut off by an extremely cold glare from Tiger as he revealed his fangs and made a motion like he was biting into someone's neck. "-I think it'll be just fine!" The doctor sweated as he finished.

"Great! Let's go!" Genki exclaimed as him and Suezo were the first to bolt into Holly's room. The room was small, but cozy and in the middle was a single hospital bed. Inside the bed was their sick companion who was starting to regain some of the color in her face. Her breathing was low as the blankets on top of her rose and fell in rhythm with her. Genki cringed as he noticed several I.V's connected to each of Holly's arms and he felt himself shudder slightly from the sight.

"...she's looking a little better." Hare whispered as Genki nodded in agreement.

"Holly's okay, chi?" Mocchi asked with concern as Genki smiled and patted his head. He didn't know a lot about illnesses or wounds, but he did know Holly was in good hands.

"Yeah, Mocchi. Holly's gonna be just fine." The young boy whispered back as Mocchi smiled in relief. Genki walked up to Holly's bedside as he brushed away a few stray hairs from the ill girl's face before taking her hand in his own. _'I really hope she's okay…'_

Tiger sat down near the end of the bed as he felt a great flow of relief go through him. He would never tell the rebels, but he had truly been scared for Holly's life. What if Pixie hadn't come to help them out? _'Because I didn't look North, I could have gotten Holly killed.'_ The wolf monster thought bitterly.

"Tiger, you look like a pound puppy! What's eating you?" Hare asked with a sly grin as Tiger blushed from embarrassment.

"Shut up, rabbit! We're in a hospital for Phoenix's sake!" Tiger snarled, but this only made Hare grin further.

"Aww! Tee hee! I didn't think you cared about sick people, Tiger! That's so sweet!"

"Be quiet, you gas bag!"

"Gas bag? Are you referring to my wonderful Gas attack?" Hare asked with a grin.

"Wonderful? WONDERFUL? That has to be the worst attack I've ever seen in my life! "

"Like your Blizzard attack is any better!"

"It is! Your Gas attack move is even more useless than Suezo's Teleport attack!" Tiger snarled.

"…Hey!" Suezo huffed as he was mentioned and dragged into the fight.

"You guys! We're in a hospital and you're gonna wake up Holly!" Genki said in a pleading tone as he watched Tiger and Hare glaring at each other before looking down at Holly. From the loud voices, Holly flinched in her sleep and Genki was worried she may move too much and disturb the I.V's in each of her arms. How they got into the subject of Hare's Gas attack and Tiger's Blizzard attack was beyond him, but now the subjects wouldn't just drop.

"Hmph. If my Gas attack is so useless, why did you _lose_ to it?"

"Shut up! You tricked me, that's why! You're nothing but a crook!"

"You guys! Holly's sleeping, chi!" Mocchi, following Genki's suit, said pleadingly.

Golem, who was outside, could hear the argument even through the closed window. The large rock monster only shook his head as he let out a sigh. He _knew_ something this simple wouldn't go smoothly for the group. He slowly peered through the window to see Tiger and Hare glaring at each other and he felt himself sweat. _'Those two… never change…'_

Suezo jumped between the two monsters as he glared at both of them. "Stop it! Holly's resting and I won't have you two chowder heads waking her up!" Although he spoke loud enough, both Hare and Tiger ignored the eyeball monster, who was currently the only obstacle blocking them from strangling each other.

"Well then, Tiger, if you think my attack is so weak, why not try it firsthand again?"

"And why don't you try one of my Blizzard attacks on for size?"

Before anyone could react, Hare and Tiger let out their Gas/Blizzard attacks aimed toward each other, though it went straight into Suezo first. The eyeball monster gagged and trembled as the horrific smell and the ice cold air filled all of his senses. Before he could move away, the eyeball monster slumped to the floor in a dazed heap from the attack. The smell and chill filled the entire room as the rebels scurried around while yelling, gagging, and freezing.

"SOMEONE OPEN THE WINDOW!"

Genki was the first one to find the window, and he quickly pushed it up to let out the Gas and Blizzard attacks. Golem, who had been near the window, reeled back in disgust and horror as the smell and icy air leaked out of the hospital room. He was glad he was too big to fit in the hospital now.

"HARE, YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ASKED FOR IT!"

Tiger and Hare began to throw punches and attacks at each other while Genki and Mocchi tried to fan out the remaining Gas and Blizzard attacks from the room. Suezo, who was still dazed on the hospital floor, only lay there twitching slightly. Everyone stopped in their tracks, though, when a loud cough was heard.

"…Holly?"

Holly looked like she was going to vomit at any moment from the smell and she shivered violently from the cold air as she gagged slightly and let out another strained cough. The ill girl tried her best to lift her arms to cover her face from the horrid smell, but her weak state of body and the strain from the I.V's made it impossible. Genki ran to the brunette's side first as he used the end of his shirt to cover her face as gently as possible. The girl looked up at him with feverish, but thankful eyes as Genki found himself staring down at the wielder of the Magic Stone. He never knew how much he'd truly miss seeing Holly's eyes until she had fallen this sick. It took several more minutes of fanning out the two attacks before the air was clean enough to breathe regularly. With a relieved sigh, Genki carefully removed the cloth from Holly's face as she looked around with a confused look on her face.

"…Holly? Are you okay?" Genki asked softly, though he was cut off from more arguing.

"Yeah! Way to go, Hare! You could have suffocated Holly!" Tiger barked as Hare glowered.

"Well, you could have made Holly even sicker with your Blizzard attack!"

"It's your fault for insulting my attack! This wouldn't have happened had you kept your mouth shut!" Tiger and Hare yelled at the same time.

"ENOUGH, YOU GUYS!" Genki shouted, and the rebels quickly fell into an awkward silence. Holly looked up at Genki as a tired smile fell on her face and she gently cleared her throat.

"…Genki…" Holly whispered hoarsely, and the young boy immediately bolted to her side, followed by a still dazed Suezo who hopped over to the sick girl's other side.

"Holly! Thank the Phoenix you're awake!" Suezo said with a relieved grin as he nuzzled her side gently with his head. Holly smiled as she patted his head lightly and let out a small giggle.

"…you seem glad to see me." Holly said with a tired smile as she watched all of the rebels perk up.

"You have no idea, Holly." Tiger grumbled as Hare stuck his tongue out at him. "Really, you have no idea."

"…what happened to your eye?" Holly asked with a frown as she looked at Tiger and Hare. Tiger's left eye was slightly swollen with a purple colored bruise around it, as was Hare's right eye from their fight in the sleeping bag.

"Uh, we had a run in with some Baddies, but it's all good!" Hare piped up as Tiger nodded in agreement, though Holly looked at them skeptically. She had a feeling that was a lie, but she would leave it at that for now.

"How are you feeling?" Genki asked the ill girl with concern as he slowly held her hand in his own again, only this time Holly responded back by blushing and smiling weakly before giving his hand a soft squeeze.

"I feel okay… just a little tired and my arms hurt." The young girl replied as she physically cringed when her eyes fell on the I.V's in each of her arms. "…where are we?"

"Truthfully, we don't really know. We didn't stop and ask what town we came into. We were too busy trying to find a doctor." Hare replied with a smile, relieved to see Holly awake. "…and speaking of this town, we need to head off and rent some rooms at the inn before it gets any later."

"Good point. We don't want to end up sleeping on the streets." Tiger huffed. "And we need to find a place for Golem to stay as well. Let's get moving."

"We'll see you in the morning, chi!" Mocchi chirped as Holly gave the baby monster a tired smile in response.

"Keep these guys out of trouble for me, will you?" The ill brunette replied jokingly as the other rebels sweated slightly.

"I will, chi!"

"Get some rest okay? And make sure to drink a lot of fluids and to eat something." Suezo stated protectively. "And if any doctors give you trouble, you just let me know and we'll set things straight."

Holly giggled as she stroked Suezo's head lovingly with the hand Genki wasn't holding. "I promise, Suezo. You'll be the first to know." She replied with a tired, yet thankful smile.

The rebels slowly began to leave the hospital room one by one before only Genki remained. He was still in the same spot he was in when he first arrived in Holly's hospital room, and his hand was still laced with her's. The young boy looked at Holly with puzzlement, and it was a look Holly returned.

"…is something wrong?" The sick girl asked with concern as Genki looked down at the floor before his gaze fell back onto her.

"…why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"What do you mean?"

Fear ripped into Holly's mind as she felt herself subconsciously tighten her grip on Genki's hand. Had they found out her secret? Did they know about her relation to Moo? The young girl felt a lump rise in her throat as she tried to break her gaze with Genki, but she couldn't find it in herself to turn away.

"Why didn't you tell us you weren't feeling good?" Genki asked, and Holly felt relief go through her entire body as she released the tension in her grip. The subject of Moo would be for another day, but she was relieved it wasn't coming up now.

"…I'm sorry." Holly apologized with a frown as her tired gaze fell onto the hospital sheets that covered her body.

"Huh? Sorry for what?"

"…for slowing everyone down again. First it was the Black Worm poison and then it was when I hurt my ankle. I keep holding the group back." The ill brunette said as her sad gaze fell onto Genki's shocked face.

"Don't be sorry for stuff like that! Heck, you're the one that keeps us on track!" Genki exclaimed as he nodded his head. "Is that why you didn't tell us you weren't feeling good? Because you didn't want to slow us down?"

Holly numbly nodded her head in response while Genki smiled softly. As always, Holly had been thinking about the good of the group and not her own well being. It was something that just came naturally to her.

"Don't worry, Holly. You never slow this group down." The young boy said with a grin. "Don't hide it when you're sick next time, okay? I don't want to lose you."

Holly flushed three shades of red at Genki's last comment, and the boy suddenly realized what he had said as he quickly rose from his seat, causing the two to lose their moment of holding hands. "I…I s-should get going. I'll see y-you tomorrow! Bye!" Genki stuttered as he quickly fled from the room before Holly could react, leaving the ill girl alone to weakly whisper her response to herself.

"…sweet dreams."

* * *

"Hey! I wanted the bed near the window!"

"I was here first, so get lost!"

The inn was small, but it served its purpose of housing the tired rebels for the time being. Golem couldn't fit, however, and so they had rented out one of the local farmer's barns. Although a little humiliated, Golem didn't complain when he waved his friends a good-bye for the night while the rebels had headed back to the inn. They would be in the inn for a little while because of Holly's illness, so now came the part of who got to sleep where. Normally Holly would be the one to come up with the sleeping arrangements, but without her guidance it was a first come first serve scenario. That didn't mean everyone agreed with it, though.

"You _always_ get the bed near the window!"

"I do not!"

Genki sighed as he watched Tiger and Hare arguing once again. It felt like they hadn't had a peaceful moment since Holly fell ill, and it was starting to get worse. The young boy merely sat in silence on one of the beds as he numbly held onto his trademark orange baseball cap. Guilt had formed inside of him when he ran out on Holly like he had, and suddenly his mind couldn't stop thinking about the past day without Holly there to take care of the group and how difficult it had been. Had Pixie not shown up, they would probably still be fumbling around the woods like idiots.

"…do you remember when Holly would make us tea every time it was raining out so we could warm up when we woke up?"

Genki's out of the blue question caused everyone in the room to suddenly come to a halt as they turned their attention to the young boy. He seemed to be in deep thought as he kept his eyes glued to the hat in his hands. The other rebels gave each other confused glances as they watched Genki clear his throat and look up at the monsters.

"…or how anytime we were sad or feeling down, she'd make an elaborate stew and would let whoever was feeling under the weather try the stew first?" Genki said with a sad smile on his face.

"Man, she makes the best stews." Suezo said with a grin as he leaned up against the headboard of his bed. "I always like it when she has breakfast ready when we wake up. She always gets up early just for us, even when she's tired."

"She's always the peace maker, too. Without her around, we seem to fight each other a lot more." Genki noted, though his comment was more so directed at Hare and Tiger, both of which seemed to take the hint as they mumbled a few incoherent words.

"What about her always cleaning the dishes? For us, what a mess that turned out to be!" Hare said with a laugh as the other rebels sweated, but they quickly began to laugh along with the rabbit monster.

"Yeah! That was really awful, huh?" The only human in the room replied with a grin on his face. "How Holly does all that cleaning on her own is beyond me."

"What about the Magic Stone, chi!"

"Huh? What do you mean, Mocchi?" Genki asked the young monster as Mocchi curled up on the young boy's lap. The sweet cake-like monster looked up at Genki with a smile on his face as he let out a small yawn before cuddling into Genki's chest.

"Without Holly, chi, we never meet!"

The room went silence as they looked around at one another. The baby monster may have been young and oblivious to what the world had in store for them, but he did have an insight to the more simple things that most people didn't see or realize.

"Mocchi's right. Without Holly's power over the Magic Stone, it would be about one in a billion that we ever would have met, and that's just us who come from this world." Hare stated with a nod of his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How else would we have been able to meet up with Genki, who's from another world?"

"…you're right. I never looked at it like that." Genki said as he looked around at his companions. It couldn't be just coincidence that he had been able to come to the world of the monsters. Had Holly not obtained the disk on that faithful day, though, would he have still been able to go? The group fell into another moment of silence as they awkwardly sat there; just thinking about everything that had happened in the past day.

"…ya know…" Genki spoke up again as the rebels turned their attention to the young boy. "Holly does all this stuff for us and we never really thank her for it. I don't even remember the last time I thanked her for dinner…"

Tiger frowned as he watched the group become more solemn. What Genki said was true, and it was slightly painful to hear it for themselves. He didn't remember ever thanking the girl for cooking dinner or doing anything of the sort, and he knew he wasn't the only one. Without a word, Tiger got off of the bed near the window and jumped up onto the one in the far corner of the room. The other rebels stared at the wolf monster with surprise that he had given up the bed to Hare, but Tiger merely shrugged before laying down.

"Get some sleep, everyone. We'll visit Holly in the morning." Tiger stated gruffly as he slowly closed his eyes and the other rebels followed his lead without a word. _'…someday we'll find a way to thank her for all that she's done and apologize for taking her…_

…_for granted.'_

* * *

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

Genki pounded annoyingly on the doors of the tiny hospital for several minutes before one of the doctors finally came to their service. At seeing the group of rebels, the man sweated and attempted to close the door, but Genki quickly put his foot in the door before that could happen. With a small 'whoop' of success, the young boy signaled for his comrades that they could enter.

"'Morning, doc!" Genki said as he pushed the door open and entered the building with the other rebels (except for Golem was seated outside of Holly's window). "How's Holly doing?"

"Kid, you and your monsters have to leave! You could have killed our patients here after your little stunt yesterday!" The doctor shouted, causing the rebels to exchange glances. "I should call the local authorities and-"

Before the man could finish his threat, Tiger stepped in front of the man and growled with intimidation. "Listen here, _doctor_. You either let us see our friend, or you'll find your kitten torn into several different pieces scattered in your front lawn in the morning. Understand?"

"Tiger! Do you want us to be thrown in jail?" Suezo huffed as they watched the doctor cowering.

"Okay! Okay! You can see your friend! Just don't hurt Pumpkin!" The doctor said pleadingly while the rebels just stood there sweating slightly.

"…Pumpkin?" Genki questioned to himself as he held back a laugh.

"…Tiger, you're awful."

"Shut up, Hare!"

The rebels quickly left the room with the doctor because of the awkwardness and they finally made it to Holly's room. With a deep breath, Genki slowly opened the door and entered the room quietly. Inside was the same as last time; clean, small, and lonely. This time, however, Holly was awake. The girl was doing her best to reach out for a glass of water that was placed on a nearby table, but she couldn't seem to reach it. Genki frowned and took it on himself to get the glass for Holly and to end her struggle.

"…Genki? What are you doing here so early…?" Holly asked in confusion.

"Ah, well, we wanted to come see how you were doing." Genki replied with a grin as he handed the ill girl the cup of water and she quickly thanked him before taking a sip of the liquid.

"Before I forget, when we're back on the road again, Hare volunteered to do all the cooking for a week and Tiger agreed to get all the fire wood for you." Suezo said with a smug grin as the two monsters glared at the eyeball monster for bringing up Pixie's punishment.

"…really? That's very sweet of you two." Holly said with a tired smile.

"Oh, ha ha… Don't mention it…" Hare laughed weakly and resisted the urge to pound Suezo's face in right there and then.

"Yeah… anything to help…" Tiger grumbled.

"You know, I had a very strange dream a day or so ago." Holly said with a puzzled look on her face as she blushed from embarrassment. "I dreamt that Pixie showed up and took care of me. Weird, right?"

Genki laughed nervously and patted the ill girl on the arm. "That was a weird dream! I mean, when would Pixie ever come and take care of any of us?" The boy said with a nervous laugh before Hare suddenly pushed him out of the way.

"Hey, Holly? Do you remember any other dreams that you had?" The rabbit monster asked slyly while Holly blushed a few shades of red.

"N-no…"

"Really? Because you called out a certain boy's name at one point, and you looked very happy…" Hare said with a wink as Holly covered her face from embarrassment.

"That's enough, Hare!" Suezo scowled as he roughly pushed the rabbit monster away from Holly. "Anyways… how are you feeling?" The eyeball monster asked with concern.

"I feel okay, thank you." The ill brunette replied with a smile, though the blush on her face was still present. "I'm just happy you guys came to visit me."

"Of course we'd visit you, Holly! We couldn't leave you in this stuffy place by yourself." Genki stated with a hint of disgust. He really didn't like hospitals. _'I don't know Holly can even sleep in here.'_

"Holly better now, chi?" Mocchi asked as he crawled up onto the girl's bed gently.

"I feel much better thanks to you guys." Holly said with a tired smile as she patted the young monster's head lovingly. "And hopefully we'll be back on the road soon."

Suddenly, a sneeze broke through the room and startled everyone before they turned to see who it came from. Hare was rubbing his nose slightly before he let out another sneeze.

"…uh, Hare…?"

"Uh, it must be allergies." The rabbit monster said with a frown. Before he could say anything further, a loud cough was also heard from within the room. Everyone turned their attention to Tiger, who let out a cough followed by a sneeze.

"…Tiger, you okay…?"

"I feel fine!" Tiger snapped, but he quickly let out another loud cough and Hare followed his suit. The other rebels stared at the two for a moment before the eyes fell onto Holly.

"Um, Holly…?"

"That's how my sickness started…" Holly trailed of as she watched the two monsters with concern. "How could they have gotten what I have, though? They need to have some kind of close contact to me for it to spread…" The other rebels sweated as they watched their two companions coughing and sneezing before Suezo started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Tiger snarled as Hare nodded his head in agreement.

"Boy, did you two get your just desserts! You wouldn't be sick right now had you two left Holly alone while she was sick!" The eyeball monster said with a malicious laugh. "All that fighting over who slept with her adds up to this! Hahahaha!"

"SHUT UP, SUEZO!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP, HARE!"

"…slept with me…?" Holly asked quietly as her face got a little pale before she covered her face in embarrassment. What had she missed while she was sick?

"Plus, you and Tiger destroyed Holly's sleeping bag! Oooohh! I said it!"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP!"

"What happened to my sleeping bag…?"

Genki watched Tiger and Hare beginning to feel the full affect of the illness while Mocchi called for the mentally scarred doctor to help the duo out. Suezo showed Holly the remains of her destroyed sleeping bag (she didn't look very pleased) while Golem watched the entire scene with a look of both embarrassment and interest. The young boy found himself smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand as both Tiger and Hare were hoisted onto stretchers and taken away. Genki slowly took a seat near Holly's bedside before he put on a wryly grin.

"Well, here we go again…!"

**End**

* * *

I. FINALLY. FINSIHED! Holy Phoenix! Why'd this take so long? XP This story was just a little fun thing I wanted to write because my other stories seem to be sort of depressing. XD This chapter was WAY longer then I thought it would be. I was thinking about a 1,000 or so words would do the trick, but that didn't happen (it's over 6,000 words XD). Dark Fox Tailz wanted the Gas/Blizzard attack scene and he also helped edit that part. Thanks everyone for reading this whole crazy thing! There was more I wanted to do with this, but I'll save my ideas for other stories. References! In the Japanese version of "Hare's Trick", Tiger loses to Hare because of his Gas attack, not because he got punched. I don't know why they edited that part out. It wasn't bad or anything. I've already mentioned the Black Work poison reference, but in the episode "Undine's Lake" Holly has a hurt ankle. She even complains that she's slowing the group down, but Genki says she isn't (so cute!). As for Holly's kind habits, in the episode "After the Rain", it's raining out so Holly makes everyone tea and in the episode "Suezo's Secret Weapon" Genki is feeling down because he can't get Suezo a special attack. Holly talks with him about the journey, and after she gets through to him she gives him the spoon with stew in it for him to try. A very adorable scene. ^_^ THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK! I LOVE YOU GUYS!

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3


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